Australia’s Largest Pension Fund Bets Big on AI

Australian pension fund Australian Super announced making €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) investment into Vantage Data Centers, which makes the infrastructure necessary to feed the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.

During the gold rush in the 19th century, while the majority went in search of gold, some made money by selling shovels and even denim jeans. Similarly, in the 21st century, individuals and firms are not just limiting themselves to investing in AI firms. But they are also investing in the infrastructure that supports artificial intelligence.

AustralianSuper Invests Into Vantage Data Centers

According to the Financial Times, Vantage Data Centers has a valuation of $11 billion, with 12 data centers spread across various European cities. The Australian pension fund, AustralianSuper, which has over $300 billion in assets under management, has announced investing $1.6 billion into Vantage Data Centers.

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Additionally, the pension fund also plans to deploy more capital into Vantage when it requires more funding. In fact, Vantage is building two more data centers in London that will cost £750 million ($804 million). An AustralianSuper executive, Nik Kemp, said:

“We expect that Vantage EMEA will require more capital as part of our commitment here. The firm plans to continue investing in this platform for many years.”

However, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) recently sued AustralianSuper for failure to properly manage members’ accounts. According to the Financial Review, the ASIC has alleged:

“AustralianSuper failed to have adequate policies and procedures in place to merge duplicate accounts despite their duty to act in members’ best interests, costing those individuals a collective $69 million.”

Long-Term AI Growth

While AI investment might sound like hype to many in 2023, the technology indeed has the potential to disrupt many sectors. The senior managing director at DigitalBridge, Jon Mauck, said:

“This is a fundamental change in the economy. We are in the early innings of a fairly long term growth outlook, whether it is the digitization of the economy, the growth of the cloud, or the proliferation of AI.”

DigitalBridge is one of the key stakeholders in the Vantage Data Centers. It is estimated the global AI market will reach over $2 trillion by 2030.

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AI growth forecast. Source: Statista

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