BlackRock-Backed Startup Teaming With Keppel to Develop Taiwan Data Centre

Singapore’s Keppel Ltd is developing its first Taiwan data centre in partnership with a digital infrastructure startup backed by asset management titan BlackRock.

The private Keppel Data Centre Fund II has entered a 50:50 joint venture with Digital Decarbonization Solutions Platform, a BlackRock-funded platform led by veterans of Logos and Engie, to build an 80-megawatt campus in northern Taiwan, Keppel said Monday in a release. The partners have secured a long-term contract for the first of the project’s two phases with a “leading global cloud service provider”, with that facility expected to be ready for service in 2026.

The tie-up with DDSP follows closely on Keppel’s entry into Japan’s data centre market and represents a strategic move to ride on the tailwinds of Taiwan’s artificial intelligence and semiconductor boom, according to the firm backed by Singaporean government investor Temasek. The deal’s financial terms weren’t disclosed.

“We are excited to enter Taiwan’s flourishing data centre market with an attractive investment at an opportune time amid the boom in the AI and semiconductor sectors,” said Christina Tan, CEO of fund management and chief investment officer at Keppel. “With the potential to scale up to 80MW, the Taiwan DC Campus bolsters our strategy to grow our portfolio of AI-ready hyperscale data centre assets across Asia.”

Cutting Carbon

DDSP describes itself as an Asia Pacific infrastructure development company with headquarters in Luxembourg and Singapore and a focus on data centres and decarbonised energy solutions. The company is seeded by BlackRock with the US asset management giant acting as a strategic partner of DDSP alongside other investors, Mingtiandi understands.

Online sources show that DDSP received seed capital from BlackRock Global Infrastructure Fund IV, which reached a $4.5 billion first close in 2022 and is targeting $7.5 billion. In April of this year, BlackRock and Temasek revealed the launch of their own $1.4 billion Decarbonization Partners Fund I to support green startups.

DDSP CEO Frederic Devos, a former head of portfolio management at Australian giant Macquarie, most recently served as an advisor to Manhattan-based BlackRock’s global infrastructure funds. DDSP managing director Wandrille Doucerain had served as head of business development for data centres with Engie South East Asia until joining the startup in the middle of this year.

“This exciting collaboration highlights our shared commitment to decarbonisation, and sustainable growth to benefit our customers,” Devos said in Keppel’s Monday release. “This campus is the first of several campuses currently under development by DDSP in collaboration with data centre operators, as part of our long-term vision for expansion in the region.”

Regional Ambitions

Keppel’s entry into Taiwan’s data centre market comes as the firm explores digital infrastructure in Japan under a deal with real estate giant Mitsui Fudosan announced in March.

Keppel Data Centre Fund II has a framework agreement with Mitsui Fudosan on the proposed forward purchase of an under-development facility in western Tokyo that will mark Keppel’s first data centre project in Asia’s second-largest economy.

The $1.1 billion KDCF II, whose backers include China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, will work exclusively with Mitsui Fudosan on the acquisition of the purpose-built data centre with a planned gross floor area of more than 300,000 square feet (27,871 square metres).

With KDCF II having committed more than 90 percent of its total funds, Keppel plans to launch the third vintage of the series later this year.

In July, Keppel-sponsored Keppel DC REIT announced plans to buy a western Tokyo data centre at a deal value of JPY 23.4 billion ($140 million), taking advantage of low borrowing costs to secure the SGX-listed trust’s first asset in Japan.