Brookfield Asset Management on Tuesday completed the acquisition of cloud-computing firm Ori Industries and folded the business into Radiant, a new entity created to offer on-demand access to chips used for artificial intelligence workloads. The company did not disclose the financial terms of the purchase. Ori Industries had previously received backing from Saudi Aramco’s venture arm.
Radiant will market its service to both corporate and government clients that are constructing so-called sovereign clouds - highly controlled computing environments designed so that data does not leave national borders. The offering is intended to address customer demand for lower costs and to shorten long wait times for chips.
To protect against declines in chip value, Brookfield is putting in place contracts that lock rental payments over what it estimates to be a five-year life for each chip. Under those contracts, customers - who Brookfield expects to be investment grade - would remain responsible for full payments even if they cease to require the hardware, according to comments from company executives.
"We will not be taking any technology risk in this business," Sikander Rashid, Brookfield’s head of AI infrastructure, said. That stance reflects a broader industry concern: other infrastructure investors have largely steered clear of major commitments to GPU-as-a-service businesses because of worries that chips can lose value or become obsolete.
Brookfield has been expanding its footprint in AI infrastructure after prior investments in power utilities and data centers. The firm estimates artificial intelligence will require $7 trillion in capital investment overall, with roughly $3 trillion directed to computing infrastructure. "I think of it as a leasing business," Rashid added. "Hopefully we are the first of many who will unlock large-scale capital to the theme."
Context and market impact
- Radiant’s focus on sovereign clouds positions the unit at the intersection of cloud services, government procurement, and data-center infrastructure.
- Long-duration rental contracts are designed to shift technological obsolescence risk away from the owner and onto contracted customers, assuming those customers meet expected credit standards.
- Brookfield’s move underscores increased investor interest in the financial structuring of AI hardware exposure rather than direct technology development.