SINGAPORE, May 28 Reuters A consortium of U.S. firm KKR and Singapore Telecommunications SingTel has emerged as the frontrunner to buy a minority stake worth 1 billion in one of Asia39;s biggest data centre providers, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.

The potential investment in STT Telemedia Global Data Centres STT GDC reflects growing interest and demand for data centres across Asia Pacific as nations and companies respond to the boom in artificial intelligence.

The KKRSingTel consortium is competing with New Yorkheadquartered alternative investment firm Stonepeak for the stake of up to 20, one of the sources said.

A deal could be sealed or announced in early June, the first source added.

The sources declined to be identified as the information is not yet public.

KKR declined to comment. SingTel, STT and Stonepeak did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

New Yorkbased global investment firm KKR bought a 20 stake in SingTel39;s regional data centre business last year for S1.1 billion 816 million.

In February KKR announced it had raised 6.4 billion for a fund focused on AsiaPacific infrastructure and energyrelated assets.

Founded in 2014, STT GDC is one of the fastest growing data centre providers with operations in Singapore, the UK, Germany, India, Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam, according to its website.

ST Telemedia, parent of STT GDC, is a Singaporeheadquartered strategic investor…