ING Seeks Buyers for $500M in Data Center Loans Amid AI Debt Fears
ING is marketing roughly $500 million across 12 data center loans, a move that signals growing unease about AI-related credit exposure.
Dutch banking giant ING is reportedly shopping approximately $500 million worth of data center debt to potential buyers, encompassing 12 separate loans that include financing tied to a New Mexico site connected to the Stargate AI infrastructure project. The move arrives at a moment when lenders across the financial industry are reassessing how much exposure they want to the rapidly expanding — and increasingly capital-intensive — world of artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The decision to offload these loans rather than hold them on its balance sheet suggests ING may be recalibrating its risk appetite for a sector that has attracted enormous capital flows but also carries significant uncertainties. Data center projects, particularly those built to support large-scale AI workloads, require massive upfront construction costs and long development timelines, creating a mismatch that can make lenders nervous when market conditions shift.
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The Stargate connection is notable. The project has been positioned as a flagship effort to build out AI computing capacity in the United States, drawing high-profile attention from both the technology and finance communities. That a major European lender would seek to reduce its stake in related debt — rather than double down — may reflect a broader cooling of enthusiasm among institutional creditors toward the sector's near-term risk profile.
For the broader lending market, ING's reported move could be an early signal of a wider repricing of AI-linked credit. If buyers emerge at a discount, it would provide a market-based data point on how investors currently value this category of debt — information that could influence underwriting standards and appetite across Wall Street and beyond. The outcome of this sale will be closely watched by anyone with skin in the AI infrastructure financing game.
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