Volato Group Inc. (NYSE:SOAR) shares are trading higher after the company completed its merger with Alignment Engine Inc., expanding into the AI data center market.

Volato Enters AI Infrastructure with Ohio Data Center

With the merger complete, Volato enters the AI infrastructure market with its initial Ohio data center site already under lease, with power, water, and water treatment infrastructure operational at the site. Because those utilities are already in place, the company said it starts its build at the equipment stage rather than the utility stage, with near-term work focused on engineering, infrastructure planning, equipment procurement, and customer deployments. The combination gives Volato a platform designed to support high-density GPU compute, AI training and inference, high-performance networking, and storage. According to Grand View Research, the global AI data center market was valued at $147.3 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $810.6 billion by 2033.

“Today marks the beginning of a new chapter for Volato,” said Chris Ensey, who was appointed CEO of Volato Group in connection with the closing of the merger. “Our Ohio site is under lease, our teams are actively at work advancing the infrastructure, and with the merger now complete, our focus is execution.”

Volato Merger Closes, Equity Split 95/5

Under the terms of the merger agreement, former Alignment Engine securityholders received non-voting convertible preferred stock and replacement options and warrants intended to represent approximately 95% of Volato’s fully diluted equity, with legacy Volato securityholders representing approximately 5%. The preferred stock does not carry conversion rights until Volato receives required stockholder and NYSE American listing approvals, meaning the merger closing itself did not result in a change of control.

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Volato Shares Trade Higher

SOAR Price Action: At the time of publication, Volato shares are trading 26.21% higher at 24 cents, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

This illustration was generated using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.