Las Vegas data-center owner borrows billions to fund expansion, pay buyout debt

Switch has borrowed $20 billion since last year as the Las Vegas data-center owner expands and pays down the debt from its corporate buyout.

The company on Tuesday announced an expansion of its borrowing base and revolving credit lines to $10 billion, saying it had now raised $20 billion since 2024 through “sustainable financing structures,” including so-called green loans and green bonds.

In general, sustainable finance refers to debt funding for investments tied to environmental, social or governance initiatives, according to law firm DLA Piper.

Switch said it would use the proceeds to support the growth of its campuses around the country, reduce its cost of capital and fully retire the bank debt incurred in the buyout that took the company private in 2022.

It also said the funding would back the expansion of its latest type of computing power-packed warehouse: founder Rob Roy’s AI factories.

A typical data center is filled with servers and other gear needed to store clients’ data. By comparison, an AI factory is designed to power artificial-intelligence systems.

These factories have an air-and-liquid-cooled design that supports “extreme densities” of computing power, and construction is underway across all five Switch campuses, the company said.

Locally, Switch is building AI factories in the southwest Las Vegas Valley, near its existing cluster of data centers.

Construction is underway along Jones Boulevard just south of the 215 Beltway. Project plans have called for a roughly 199,000-square-foot data-center warehouse and another such facility that spans around 228,000 square feet, Clark County records show.

Switch operates data centers in Nevada, Texas, Michigan and Georgia. In 2022, investment firms DigitalBridge Group and IFM Investors acquired the company in a deal valued at about $11 billion.

Switch’s client roster includes numerous big-name companies, including Google, Verizon, Sony, MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment, according to its website.

Its facilities are protected by high walls topped with spikes, as well as armed security.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.