News: MQG UPDATE 1-Macquarie to buy South Korea data centre for $537 mln

(Recasts paragraph 1, updates with further details and background on deal, AirTrunk reports and data centre operations)

Aug 6 (Reuters) -

Macquarie (MQG) will buy a data centre in South Korea for 734 billion won ($537 million) as the artificial intelligence boom drives demand for cloud computing and data warehouses in the country.

Macquarie Korea Infrastructure Fund, through its special purpose firm Green Digital Infra, updated the market about the deal, adding that the investment could go up to 918 billion won ($672.04 million) after accounting for the additional amount needed for mechanical and other works.

The world's biggest tech companies, including Alphabet's Google GOOGL.O , Amazon AMZN.O and Meta META.O , have built data centres in South Korea to meet rising demand for cloud and AI-related services.

The deal comes even as the conglomerate is reportedly looking to divest its stake in Australian cloud computing firm AirTrunk.

Bloomberg News earlier in the month reported that private credit funds were in talks for debt worth A$1.5 billion ($974.25 million) to help the potential takeover of AirTrunk.

A consortium led by Macquarie acquired Australia's AirTrunk four years ago in a deal worth A$3 billion ($1.95 billion). ($1 = 1,366.0000 won)

($1 = 1.5396 Australian dollars)