Koray GYO brings Turkish capital to US data center land

Koray GYO, a Turkish real estate investment trust, said this week it is scouting data center sites in Texas and Louisiana and has begun talking to financial institutions about project financing, according to Data Center Dynamics. Capacity, locations, and timelines are still under wraps.

Koray GYO dates to 1996, when Yapı ve Kredi Bankası and Koray Group — a construction firm active in energy, investment, and construction — formed it as a joint venture. The REIT first said in June it was exploring data center investment at home and abroad; the search in the US is the first specific geography to surface.

The move is a small but meaningful sign of where data center equity is coming from. REITs exist to own rent-producing assets, so a Turkish REIT scouting Texas and Louisiana brings an expectation of long-term contracted cash flows. That capital now joins hyperscaler balance sheets, dedicated power plants, and infrastructure funds circling the same buildout.

The binding constraint on US data center development has been power and permission, not capital. PWD's prior coverage has documented the community opposition that has stalled inland projects. Land evaluation is the easy stage. Once Koray GYO controls sites, the open questions are whether it builds, who signs the offtake, and how it navigates the interconnection queue.