ING Is Reportedly Selling $500 Million In Data Center Loans. OpenAI's Stargate Project Is Among Them.

Dutch banking giant ING is reportedly looking to sell about $500 million in data center loans, including debt connected to OpenAI's Stargate project, as investors grow increasingly cautious about the enormous sums being borrowed to finance artificial intelligence infrastructure.

The bank is seeking buyers for 12 loans through a competitive bidding process, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter. The portfolio includes a $25 million loan position tied to a massive AI data center under development in New Mexico.

The proposed sale also covers debt associated with data center operators Vantage Data Centers and CyrusOne. Investors have until Nov.19 to submit bids, with offers required to be at least $10 million.

The reported auction is unusual because it brings together a large portfolio of loans exclusively tied to data centers at a time when investors are questioning how much additional debt the AI industry can absorb.

Banks routinely sell loans to other investors to manage their balance sheets, release capital or reduce exposure to particular industries. The proposed transaction does not, by itself, establish that the loans are distressed or that the underlying projects are experiencing financial trouble.

But the timing is attracting attention. Technology stocks suffered heavy losses Thursday as investors pulled back from companies associated with AI infrastructure spending. The Nasdaq Composite plunged more than 5%, while data center operators Applied Digital, Cipher Digital and IREN each lost more than 14% during the session.

The declines followed Tuesday's U.S. midterm elections, which increased expectations of greater political scrutiny of data center development. Investors were also reassessing the borrowing and spending commitments behind the industry's rapid expansion.

One of the loans offered by ING is connected to Project Jupiter, an AI data center campus in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, associated with Oracle and the broader Stargate initiative.

The facility is among the infrastructure projects supporting the expansion of Stargate, which OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle launched in January 2025 with an announced goal of investing up to $500 billion in U.S. AI infrastructure over four years.

The project has expanded beyond its initial Texas development into a network of proposed and operating facilities intended to provide the computing capacity needed for increasingly demanding AI models.

Project Jupiter has also faced questions about its energy infrastructure. In September, Oracle clarified that construction of the data center campus and the permitting process for its proposed power-generation facilities were separate matters. A court order affecting an air-quality permit proceeding for the power facility did not apply to permits for the data center buildings, the company said.

Oracle subsequently announced a revised economic assessment for the project in October, estimating that it could generate more than $13 billion in economic activity in New Mexico during construction and its first 17 years of full operations.

The company also outlined plans to power the campus through a fuel-cell microgrid and proposed an electricity arrangement intended to support construction and early operations.

The financial arrangements behind AI infrastructure have become increasingly complicated as companies commit billions of dollars to new computing facilities.

Data center developers frequently rely on loans, long-term leases and other financing structures to pay for construction, electricity infrastructure and specialized equipment. Large technology companies may ultimately use the facilities without financing every component directly through their own corporate balance sheets.

In an October research report, ING's own analysts estimated that major technology companies could spend close to $1 trillion on capital expenditures during fiscal 2027.

They projected that European technology, media and telecommunications companies could issue approximately 150 billion euros in gross bonds next year, with AI infrastructure spending contributing to that demand.

The research also projected at least 60 billion euros in bond issuance from major data center operators in 2027, compared with roughly 35 billion euros issued so far in 2026.

The bank's analysts said the expansion was likely to require continued access to debt markets even as large technology companies funded substantial portions of their investments through operating cash flow.