SWI Group abandons Polarise investment, closes Genesis Digital Assets buyout, and plots own AI cloud

Investment firm SWI Group has pulled out of a planned majority investment in German AI cloud provider Polarise, while simultaneously completing its acquisition of US-based cryptominer Genesis Digital Assets (GDA) and announcing plans to build its own AI cloud platform. The moves mark a significant strategic shift for the Amsterdam Euronext-listed alternative investment conglomerate, which manages approximately €11 billion in assets.

SWI first unveiled its intention to take a controlling stake in Polarise, a European AI cloud firm headquartered in Germany, in February. However, this week the company said it had "determined not to pursue the originally proposed completion of this transaction." Instead of acquiring a majority ownership in Polarise, SWI said it "will provide financing to assist the Polarise founders to reorganize their corporate structure and development; the two entities will now remain separated and develop in their own distinct ways."

Polarise, which offers bare metal, private cloud, and GPU services, recently launched an AI Factory in Munich in partnership with Deutsche Telekom and Nvidia, following its first AI factory in Oslo, Norway. A further facility is in development near Frankfurt. The cloud firm had been set to deploy capacity in data centers operated by AiOnX, SWI's European data center platform, though those plans now appear to be on hold.

Alongside the Polarise withdrawal, SWI announced it would develop its own high-performance computing and GPU-as-a-service platform. According to the company, the group "will leverage its own highly experienced team and balance sheet depth to develop in-house its proprietary AI-cloud platform designed to deliver GPU-accelerated compute to enterprises, research institutions and AI developers." Full details have not yet been shared, but the platform will rely on capacity from AiOnX and Genesis Digital Assets.

In a separate development, SWI confirmed it has completed the acquisition of a controlling stake of more than 70 percent in Genesis Digital Assets. GDA will now be renamed SWI Digital and will serve as the group's US-focused digital infrastructure platform. GDA operates 15 crypto data centers across the US and Sweden, with a total footprint of 1.3GW of available power.

SWI's interest in acquiring a data center firm first surfaced in February, though details were scarce at the time. By May, the company had identified the target as a US-based cryptominer, and the acquisition was formally announced in June. The completion of the deal and the rebranding to SWI Digital underscore the group's broader push into digital infrastructure.

The strategic pivot comes as SWI, formed from the merger of Stoneweg and Icona Capital last year, deepens its involvement in the data center sector. Its Stoneweg unit launched its own data center fund and platform last year, taking a stake in AiOnX, which is developing data center parks in Cambridge, UK, and near Dublin, Ireland, with additional projects in Milan, Italy; Varde, Denmark; and Madrid, Spain. Stoneweg Europe Stapled Trust (SERT), which combines Stoneweg European Real Estate Investment Trust and Stoneweg European Business Trust, is also exploring the potential redevelopment of around ten industrial sites across four European countries for data center use.

The developments highlight a broader industry trend in which investment firms are increasingly looking to control their own digital infrastructure and AI compute capacity rather than relying solely on third-party providers. By closing the GDA deal and building its own AI cloud, SWI is positioning itself to capture more value across the data center value chain, while its decision to step back from Polarise suggests a preference for independent growth over external partnerships.