LONDON (Reuters) -Hitachi Energy has acquired a minority stake in Shermco, a U.S. electrical services company recently bought by Blackstone, Hitachi Energy told Reuters on Wednesday, in a deal aimed at creating the largest grid services provider in North America.

The deal follows U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to Japan on Tuesday during which the two countries agreed to a deal on new-generation nuclear power reactors and rare earths.

Growing global investments in artificial intelligence and modern data centres have fuelled demand for electricity, maintenance and repair services.

Switzerland-headquartered Hitachi Energy, a subsidiary of Japan's Hitachi Ltd ( HTHIF ), declined to give the size of the stake or value of the Shermco deal.

Blackstone acquired Irving, Texas-based Shermco in August for about $1.6 billion. Shermco provides comprehensive electrical system services, as well as critical services for data centres, utilities and other diversified commercial and industrial end-markets.

Blackstone said the partnership with Hitachi Energy would help scale Shermco's operations to meet growing demand for grid modernisation and electrification.

In September, Hitachi Energy said it planned to invest $1 billion to expand its U.S. power grid infrastructure manufacturing.

(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)