H5 Data Centers Expands Footprint with Three US Acquisitions

H5 Data Centers has acquired three highly interconnected data centre facilities from 365 Data Centers, adding assets in Buffalo, Nashville and Tampa to its US portfolio. 

The transaction marks a further step in H5 Data Centers’ strategy to build regional interconnection ecosystems that support cloud, AI and enterprise workloads outside the largest hyperscale hubs.

The facilities were acquired through a joint venture with private equity firm Novacap and provide H5 Data Centers with an immediate presence in three markets that play an important role in regional digital infrastructure. 

Each site is carrier dense and embedded within its local network ecosystem, serving a mix of service providers, enterprises and content platforms.

Strengthening regional interconnection hubs

Unlike large-scale greenfield hyperscale campuses, the newly acquired sites are established interconnection locations that act as aggregation points for local and regional traffic. 

Buffalo, Nashville and Tampa each serve as gateways between metro networks, long-haul fibre routes and cloud on ramps, making them strategically valuable as data traffic volumes continue to rise.

H5 Data Centers says the portfolio aligns with its focus on owning and operating facilities that support carrier networks and digital content distribution while also enabling newer AI driven workloads that require low latency connectivity and access to diverse network paths.

Josh Simms, CEO of H5 Data Centers, says: “These facilities are important digital infrastructure assets with deeply interconnected ecosystems and long-standing customer relationships. They fit within our focus of owning and operating data centers that support carrier networks, digital content distribution, and the next generation of cloud, AI, and enterprise workloads.”

He emphasised that regional interconnection sites are increasingly relevant as enterprises seek to distribute workloads across multiple locations for resilience, performance and compliance reasons.

Partnership with Novacap

The acquisition represents the second portfolio that H5 Data Centers and Novacap have acquired together. In January last year, the partners announced the purchase of a US wholesale data centre portfolio, signalling a long term commitment to digital infrastructure investment across multiple segments of the market.

For Novacap, the transaction supports a strategy focused on building a diversified portfolio of digital infrastructure assets that combine stable cash flows with growth potential driven by data consumption and cloud adoption.

Ted Mocarski, Senior Partner and Head of Digital Infrastructure at Novacap, says: “H5 Data Centers brings deep operating expertise and a clear vision for building highly interconnected data centres. This transaction fits squarely within our strategy of building a diversified portfolio of high-quality digital infrastructure assets.”

He highlighted the importance of operator expertise in extracting long term value from interconnection assets, where customer relationships and network density are as critical as physical capacity.

Implications for 365 Data Centers

For 365 Data Centers, the sale allows the company to recycle capital and focus investment on higher density facilities within its remaining footprint. The company said proceeds from the transaction will support expansion plans and the delivery of higher megawatt services at larger sites where demand from AI and cloud customers is growing.

Derek Gillespie, CEO of 365 Data Centers, says: “365 is proud to have developed each of these data centres into the leading regional network hub and pleased that HyscaleIX, under the stewardship of H5 Data Centers, is a customer-focused, best-in-class operator. 

“The sales proceeds will further enable 365 to expand and deliver higher-density MW services at a number of our larger facilities.”

Bob DeSantis, Co-Founder and Board Member of 365, added: “This successful transaction for 365 aligns perfectly with the company’s and its investors’ strategic objectives and provides management with the financial flexibility to achieve them.”

A shifting data centre landscape

The transaction reflects a broader trend in the data centre sector, where regional interconnection facilities are attracting renewed attention alongside hyperscale development. 

As AI workloads scale, many operators are rethinking how traffic flows between core cloud regions, edge locations and enterprise environments.

Facilities like those in Buffalo, Nashville and Tampa play a key role in this architecture, offering proximity to end users and network diversity without the cost and complexity of building entirely new campuses. For H5, integrating these sites into its existing platform provides an opportunity to deepen network density and expand service offerings over time.

The company says the acquisitions significantly advance its long term plan to develop interconnected ecosystems across North America, positioning its portfolio to support evolving requirements for latency, resilience and connectivity as digital infrastructure demand continues to diversify.