DigitalBridge (DBRG) Q3 2025: 2.6 GW Leased, Power Bank Drives Record Data Center Commitments

October 30, 2025 | By EarningsIQ Research

DigitalBridge’s record 2.6 gigawatts of data center leasing in Q3 cements its power bank as the decisive competitive lever in hyperscale AI infrastructure. Strategic capital formation, fee margin expansion, and new product launches signal a business model shift toward multi-channel, multi-strategy growth. Investor focus now turns to the cadence of carried interest realization and the durability of fee-related earnings as the company pivots to 2026.

Summary

• Power Bank Converts to Market Share: DigitalBridge’s secured power positions translate into unmatched leasing wins for hyperscale AI campuses.
• Fee Margin Expansion Accelerates: Co-investment fee rates and disciplined cost control drive double-digit earnings growth.
• Strategic Product Pipeline Builds Optionality: New private wealth, energy, and stabilized data center offerings diversify capital sources for 2026.

Performance Analysis

DigitalBridge delivered a breakout quarter, underpinned by fee revenue growth and record data center leasing activity. Fee revenues rose sharply, driven by organic expansion in flagship funds and co-investments, with catch-up fees providing a further boost as fundraising nears completion. The firm’s fee-related earnings (FRE) margin improved, as revenue growth outpaced expenses, reflecting both operating leverage and a successful push to raise co-investment fee rates to 70 basis points.

Capital formation momentum remained robust, with $1.6 billion in new commitments and fee-earning equity under management (FIEM) reaching $40.7 billion—a milestone achieved one quarter ahead of target. Liquidity remains ample, with $173 million in corporate cash and $1.7 billion in corporate assets, positioning DigitalBridge to fund new initiatives and support portfolio growth. Notably, distributable earnings doubled year-over-year, and the company’s data center platforms contributed a record 2.6 gigawatts of leasing—representing approximately one-third of total U.S. hyperscale leasing for the quarter.

• Leasing Surge Drives Visibility: The 2.6 GW leased this quarter reflects both demand pull from AI workloads and the operationalization of DigitalBridge’s power bank strategy.
• Fee Margin Expansion Outpaces Expense Growth: Year-over-year FRE growth outstripped revenue, as cost discipline and higher co-invest rates took hold.
• Capital Formation Diversifies: New products in private wealth and energy are in launch mode, broadening the capital and fee base for 2026.

While carried interest saw a $20 million reversal due to portfolio fair value movements not exceeding preferred return hurdles, management emphasized that the life cycle of new funds and recent asset deployments sets up a multi-year realization runway. The business model is increasingly multi-channel, with new distribution and product launches poised to drive incremental, recurring fee streams.

Executive Commentary

Strategic Positioning

1. Power Bank as Structural Differentiator

DigitalBridge’s power bank—more than 20 gigawatts of secured power across 11 global data center platforms—has become the company’s defining moat. In Q3, this translated into 2.6 GW of leasing, including the record-setting Frontier (Texas) and Lighthouse (Wisconsin) campuses. The ability to offer immediate, large-scale power access is now the gating factor for hyperscale AI deployments, and DigitalBridge’s portfolio is uniquely positioned to meet this demand.

2. Multi-Channel Capital Formation

The Franklin Templeton partnership launches a programmatic private wealth distribution channel, targeting the mass affluent segment with institutional-grade digital and energy infrastructure products. This evergreen structure creates a new layer of recurring capital and earlier carry realization, supplementing traditional institutional fundraising. The business model now spans flagship closed-end funds, open-ended vehicles, and bespoke co-investments, each tailored to specific allocator preferences.

3. Global Platform, Local Execution

DigitalBridge’s portfolio covers hyperscale, enterprise, edge, and regional data center needs across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The Vantage Asia Pacific expansion, backed by GIC and Adia, leverages the Johor (Malaysia) market as a spillover hub from Singapore—mirroring past success in Reno/Santa Clara. This customer-driven, follow-the-logos approach ensures capital is allocated only to contracted, high-visibility projects, minimizing speculative risk.

4. Product Innovation and Asset Rotation

The upcoming launch of stabilized data center and digital power funds adds new verticals to the platform, targeting real estate allocators and energy transition capital pools. The Data Center Income Fund, for example, opens access to the $3 trillion real estate allocation market, while the digital power strategy addresses the $1.3 trillion incremental power spend required for AI infrastructure buildout.

5. Carried Interest Realization Path

Management signaled that the cadence of carried interest (carry) realization will grow steadier as legacy fund vintages mature, with 2019-vintage funds entering the monetization window for 2026–2028. The episodic nature of carry is expected to shift toward more regular distributions as new funds and co-investments stabilize and as asset rotation accelerates, particularly in the data center segment.

Key Considerations

DigitalBridge’s Q3 results mark a pivotal inflection in both operational execution and business model diversification, but investors should calibrate expectations around the evolving mix of fee, carry, and capital formation streams.

Key Considerations:

• Leasing Scale as a Proxy for Long-Term Value: The 2.6 GW of leasing, with one-third U.S. market share, signals that power access is now the core determinant of hyperscale AI infrastructure success.
• Multi-Strategy Platform Lowers Capital Risk: The shift to multi-channel fundraising, spanning institutional, private wealth, and real estate allocators, reduces dependence on any single capital source or fund structure.
• Carry Realization Remains a Key Investor Watchpoint: Despite strong earnings growth, the timing and magnitude of realized carry will drive valuation upside and remains subject to asset exit cadence and fund maturity.
• Energy Transition as Next Growth Leg: The digital power strategy, including microgrid and behind-the-meter solutions, positions DigitalBridge to capture both incremental infrastructure spend and energy transition capital flows.

Risks

Execution risk remains elevated as DigitalBridge scales multiple new products and channels in parallel, and the pace of carried interest realization is inherently lumpy, tied to asset exits and fund life cycles. Credit quality of new AI and LLM tenants warrants close monitoring, with management signaling selectivity but acknowledging the risk of overexposure to non-investment grade customers. Competitive intensity from both established REITs and new entrants may pressure margins if power bank advantages erode or if capital formation slows.

Forward Outlook

For Q4 2025, DigitalBridge guided to:

• Delivering and potentially exceeding full-year fee-related earnings (FRE) guidance, with margin tailwinds from catch-up fees and co-investment rate expansion.
• Formal launch of new digital power and stabilized data center strategies, with anchor commitments targeted before year-end.

For full-year 2025, management maintained a focus on:

• Surpassing prior FIEM and FRE targets, building on early achievement of the $40 billion FIEM milestone.

Management highlighted several factors that will shape 2026 and beyond:

• Continued record leasing momentum, with a sales funnel exceeding 7 GW and broader customer diversification.
• Multi-product fundraising across private wealth, energy, and real estate channels, with a goal of reducing cyclicality and deepening recurring fee streams.

Takeaways

DigitalBridge’s Q3 2025 results validate its thesis that power access is the decisive lever in hyperscale AI infrastructure, with leasing and capital formation translating directly into fee and earnings growth. The business is evolving into a multi-channel, multi-strategy platform with global reach and product breadth.

• Power Bank as Moat: The company’s ability to lease at scale is unmatched, providing durable revenue visibility and customer stickiness in an AI-driven infrastructure cycle.
• Carry Realization Cadence: Investors should monitor the transition from episodic to recurring carry distributions as funds mature and asset exits accelerate, a key driver of future valuation.
• Product and Capital Diversification: The launch of new private wealth, energy, and real estate funds positions DigitalBridge for sustained growth and resilience against capital market cyclicality.

Conclusion

DigitalBridge’s Q3 marks a structural shift, with power bank-enabled leasing and multi-channel capital formation driving both near-term earnings and long-term optionality. The next phase will hinge on the steady realization of carried interest and the successful scaling of new product lines as the company enters 2026 with momentum and strategic clarity.

Industry Read-Through

DigitalBridge’s results reinforce that power access has become the critical bottleneck and competitive advantage in hyperscale data centers, and the ability to deliver gigawatt-scale capacity is now table stakes for serving leading AI and cloud customers. Multi-channel capital formation and product innovation are emerging as key differentiators for alternative asset managers, with real estate, private wealth, and energy transition vehicles broadening the addressable market. Competitors lacking secured power or diversified fundraising channels risk falling behind, as customer requirements shift toward contracted, long-duration infrastructure solutions. The read-through for the broader digital infrastructure and alternative asset management sectors is clear: scale, power, and product breadth are converging as the new drivers of outperformance.

DBRG Financials Infrastructure Data centers AI Alternative assets Private wealth Power bank