NTT Global Data Centers is looking to raise at least $1 billion to fund development projects across the United States, a move that underscores just how aggressively the data center industry is scaling to meet the insatiable appetite for AI compute power.

The fundraise is part of a much larger capital deployment strategy. NTT, a division of NTT DATA, has committed to investing over $10 billion globally through 2027, with the US representing a critical piece of that puzzle.

The US buildout strategy

NTT currently operates more than 160 facilities across over 20 countries, with a combined critical IT load exceeding 2,000 MW. That makes it the third-largest data center operator on the planet. Its US operations are concentrated in Virginia, Arizona, Illinois, California, and Oregon.

In March 2026, NTT secured approximately 115 MW in new US capacity agreements.

In April 2025, NTT acquired 173 acres in Mesa, Arizona, for $300 million. The site is earmarked for a new campus with a projected capacity of up to 360 MW, with the first phase expected to come online by late 2028.

Under CEO Doug Adams, NTT has targeted roughly $3 billion in new data center investments for the fiscal year that began in April 2025. The strategy is built around constructing AI-optimized facilities capable of supporting advanced infrastructure like liquid cooling.

What this means for investors

The $300 million Mesa land acquisition indicates confidence in long-term demand fundamentals, since that kind of upfront land cost only makes sense if you’re planning to build and lease hundreds of megawatts over the next decade.

The company’s emphasis on liquid cooling infrastructure signals growing adoption of a technology that has been discussed for years but is only now reaching mainstream deployment.

One risk to monitor: power availability. Data center operators across the US are increasingly bumping up against utility capacity constraints, with some projects facing multi-year delays in securing grid connections. NTT’s choice of markets like Arizona, where power procurement has historically been more straightforward, may prove prescient if grid bottlenecks worsen in more established markets.