Will Macquarie Technology's share price rise on AI-driven data boom?

ASX-listed data centre operator Macquarie Telecom Group Limited (ASX: MAQ) could see its share price benefit from surging popularity of new artificial intelligence (AI) innovations, all of which will lead to a boom in demand for usable data.

Macquarie is currently seeking to expand its portfolio of data centres in order to capitalise upon an AI-driven rise in demand for digital information, following a sizeable rise in revenue levels.

Artificial intelligence will lead to boom in demand for data

Recent revolutionary breakthrouighs in the field of artificial intelligence have already had a transformative impact upon multiple parts of the economy, including copywriting, translation, programming, graphic design and online chatbot services The impact of artifical intelligence on the modern economy is likely to further increase, as the technology advances and developers and businessses find new applications for the latest innovations.

AI's revolutionary economic impact has also had a deep impact on capital markets and the fortunes of companies that are associated with the new technology. Chipmaker NVIDIA Corp (All Sessions) saw its share price surge earlier this year due to the critical role of its high-end graphic processing units (GPUs) in articial intelligence applications, putting it in third place behind Microsoft and Apple as one of the world's most highly valued tech companies.

Given the immense complexity of AI technology, chipmakers and software developers are far from the only companies who stand to benefit from the popularisation of the new technology.

One of the most critical ingredients behind the effectiveness of AI technology is data - huge volumes of high-quality digital information plays an indispensable role in training AI programs so that theyare capable of making accurate assessments of complex situations or generating visual, audio or linguistic content which is indistinguishable from a human creation.a

For this reason data centres and cloud service providers are amongs the tech comapnies that are best positioned to benefit from the widespread adoption of AI innovations.

Macquarie Technology gears up for expansion

Macquarie Technology is well aware of the boom in demand for data that will result from AI's transformative impact on the economy.

The company recently announced that it plans to expand its data centre portfolio due to the surging demand for cloud and AI services, which has driven an uptick in business performance.

According to its latest half-yearly results, Macquarie's data centre revenue growth outperformed its other business areas, rising 8.4% year-on-year to hit AUD$34.3 million.

The company now plans to 'explore the acquisition of sites to facilitate the growth plan of Macquarie data centres, spporting the sovereign focus of our customer base.'

Macquarie currently owns and operates two campuses in Sydney. One is situated in the downtown business district, while the other goes by the name of the Macquarie Park Data Centre Campus, and its home to Macquarie's IC3 Super West Data centre.

Macquarie announced over the summer that it would increase capacity from a previously planned 38MW to 45MW, in order to deal with the 'megatrend' of AI-related data demand.

Goldman upbeat about Macquarie's expansion

Goldman Sachs is currently bullish on Macquarie, with the broker stating that it is 'poised to demonstrate the accceleration of its data centre growth pipleline through 2024, both from IC3W and a new site in the Sydney metro area.'

The broker also points out that core cloud services and telco businesses are performing well in the interim, leading to a an attractive valuation relative to the company's peers.

Goldman currently has a buy rating for Macquarie Technology, with a price target of $93.00.

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