Alphabet Accelerates AI Race with $4.75B Acquisition of Data Center Firm Intersect

Alphabet is betting $4.75B on Intersect to speed up data center growth and power its AI future.

Jordan B.
December 23, 2025

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Good morning. Alphabet is making a major infrastructure play to keep pace in the AI race. Its $4.75B acquisition of Intersect signals a push to scale data centers and power capacity faster than ever.

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Market Snapshot

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AI Infrastructure

Alphabet Accelerates AI Race with $4.75B Acquisition of Data Center Firm Intersect

The deal: Alphabet will acquire Intersect, a data center and energy infrastructure firm, for $4.75B in cash plus assumed debt. The move aims to accelerate data center and power capacity to support Google’s growing AI needs and stay competitive in the generative AI race.

Why Intersect? Intersect isn’t new to Google. Alphabet was already a minority investor. The company builds large-scale data centers and power assets, now vital for AI. Google says Intersect will help scale capacity more quickly and align with growing energy demand.

What’s in the deal: The acquisition excludes Intersect’s assets in California and existing Texas operations, which remain backed by original investors. Intersect will retain its brand and operate independently, suggesting a hybrid approach of integration and autonomy.

Location matters: Intersect will collaborate with Google’s infrastructure teams, especially at their shared power and data center site in Haskell County, Texas, part of Google’s $40B Texas investment through 2027, including sites in Haskell and Armstrong counties.

The broader AI context: Rivals like OpenAI have committed over $1.4T to infrastructure. As AI demand surges, tech giants need both computing power and the energy to fuel it. Google’s Intersect deal helps secure both.

➥ THE TAKEAWAY

Owning the stack: Alphabet isn’t just buying a data firm—it’s buying speed, control, and an edge. As AI demands outgrow build cycles, owning power and processing is a strategic advantage.

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✍️ Editor’s Picks

Due diligence made simple: Blew’s in-house survey team ensures your deals meet 2026 ALTA/NSPS requirements with reliable, nationwide due diligence support across every asset and market. (sponsored)
Trump effect: Trump’s return triggered a commercial real estate reset, driven by return-to-office orders, tariffs, tax cuts, and aggressive deregulation.
Mixed signals: Commercial mortgage delinquencies were mixed in Q3, with CMBS and agency loans rising while banks and life companies saw slight improvements.
Cautious optimism: Moody’s 2026 forecast sees improving CMBS/CLO performance amid lower rates and modest growth, but underperforming office and retail assets remain high-risk.
Luxury reset: High-end home prices dipped again in November, with wide gaps in demand and speed, from red-hot Silicon Valley to sluggish Bend, OR.
Rate rebound: Lower borrowing costs sparked a year-end deal surge in 2025, but uncertainty around Fed policy, tariffs, and sector-specific dynamics keeps the 2026 outlook cloudy.
Takeover tension: Larry Ellison personally backed Paramount’s $77.9B bid for Warner, challenging Netflix with a stronger financing guarantee.
Tax whack: A $500M reassessment shift is hitting Chicago homeowners hardest as commercial properties catch a break.

🏘️ MULTIFAMILY

Start stabilization: Multifamily construction may be leveling off after two years of declines, as builders report steady starts, lower costs, and cautious optimism.
Growth illusion: Multifamily rents rose 1.7% YoY in November, but inflation erased gains, marking the 37th straight month of negative real rent growth.
Luxury lift: Single-family rent growth slowed to 0.9% in October, with high-end rentals and resilient Midwest markets like Chicago and Detroit propping up national gains.
Senior surge: Senior housing deals hit $16.3B through Q3, fueled by rebounding prices, rising investor demand, and long-term demographic tailwinds.
Waterton move: Waterton bought a 395-unit complex in LA’s Warner Center, marking its second area acquisition this year with value-add plans in place.
Record buy: Olen Properties set a 2025 high for Atlanta multifamily sales with its $179.7M purchase of Magnolia at Milton in Alpharetta.

🏭 Industrial

Industrial shift: The industrial real estate sector is evolving, with investor focus turning to cold storage, power-ready warehouses, and long-term, tenant-focused ownership for resilient returns.
Supply squeeze: Leasing hit record highs in NYC’s outer boroughs, but rising vacancies and falling rents reveal a supply-demand imbalance.
Capital tailwinds: Sale-leaseback activity rebounded in late 2025, driven by falling interest rates and improving trade clarity, with momentum expected to continue into 2026.

🏬 RETAIL

Publix power: Goldman Sachs Alternatives and Branch Properties recapitalized a $170M, five-property Publix-anchored retail portfolio in fast-growing Southeast markets.
Closures continue: Chain store locations in NYC dropped 1.3% over the past year, with Starbucks leading closures as major retailers continue to downsize across the city.
Theater threat: Theaters fear a Warner Bros. sale to Netflix or Paramount could reduce film releases and shorten theater runs, further straining the struggling cinema industry.

🏢 OFFICE

Leasing leaders: Finance and tech firms dominated the biggest U.S. office leases of 2025, with NYU, Jane Street, and Deloitte topping the list.
Apple ascends: Apple has expanded its Midtown Manhattan footprint with a 95K SF lease at 11 Penn, now occupying over half a million SF in Vornado’s tower.
Record rise: Stephen Ross’ Related Ross secured a $772M construction loan — the largest in Florida history — to fund two new office towers in West Palm Beach.
Wood works: T3 FAT Village, Fort Lauderdale’s first mass timber office building, is rising as the sustainable, design-forward anchor of a $500M mixed-use redevelopment.

🏨 HOSPITALITY

Prime migration: Cult-favorite NYC restaurant 4 Charles Prime Rib is set to open in Miami’s Design District in 2026, taking over the former Swan space.
Nobu North: Nobu Hospitality has broken ground on a 246-meter tower in Manchester, set to be the UK’s tallest building outside London.
Data decoded: Despite a 2.3% RevPAR dip in November, CoStar and STR analysts say 2025 hotel data is more about tough comparisons and calendar quirks than true economic trouble.

📈 CHART OF THE DAY

Over the past decade, Industrial saw the strongest investment growth—especially in the East—while Office declined across all regions and the Midwest consistently underperformed.