DayOne Data Centers has confidentially filed for a US initial public offering, targeting a $5 billion valuation, according to people familiar with the matter.
Confidential filings allow companies to prepare IPO materials with the SEC before making them public, a process that typically precedes a formal registration statement by several months. The filing marks DayOne's first step toward a potential public listing in the United States.
DayOne is a spinoff of GDS International, a data center operator that went public in Hong Kong in 2016. The company operates 480 megawatts of capacity currently in service or under construction across Asia-Pacific and Europe, with an additional 590 megawatts of reserved capacity in those regions. Data center operators have pursued public offerings in recent years as demand for computing infrastructure has accelerated, driven by cloud adoption and artificial intelligence workloads.
The company joins a cohort of infrastructure providers weighing listings. The confidential filing process, formalized under SEC rules in 2008, allows companies to submit preliminary materials without public disclosure, then formally register once market conditions or their own readiness align. Timing between confidential filing and public registration typically spans weeks to months.
Data center valuations have shifted considerably in public markets since 2023. Equinix trades at approximately 27 times forward earnings, while Digital Realty and CoreWeave command multiples tied to the sector's recent repricing around capacity constraints and power availability.
The number that decides next steps is whether DayOne files a formal registration statement within six months of the confidential submission, the typical window in which confidential filers move to public registration.
