BlackRock-Nvidia Consortium to Acquire Data Center Firm for $40 Billion

Meta to Build New Data Center
AI Infrastructure Race Accelerates

A consortium of investors, including BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, and artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor company Nvidia, has announced an agreement to acquire Aligned Data Centers, a data center design and operations firm, for $40 billion.

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According to CNBC, a U.S. business media outlet, on October 15 (local time), the investment consortium “AI Infrastructure Partnership (AIP),” which includes BlackRock and Nvidia, revealed this plan. The consortium also includes Microsoft, as well as xAI, a company specializing in AI development and social networking services.

Key investors in AIP include the Kuwait Investment Authority and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek. Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock and leader of AIP, stated, “This investment marks significant progress toward our goal of providing the infrastructure to power the future of AI.”

This deal represents AIP’s first investment, and the transaction is expected to be finalized in the first half of 2026. The consortium plans to inject $30 billion in equity capital at the initial stage, and with debt financing included, the total investment could reach up to $100 billion.

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Aligned Data Centers is a company that designs, builds, and operates data centers, currently serving major hyperscalers and other clients.

On the same day, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, also announced plans to build a new data center focused on AI. Meta explained that this facility will be its 29th data center and “will help operate top-tier AI models as we realize the potential of AI and move toward building artificial superintelligence.”

The new data center will be constructed in El Paso, southern Texas, with the capacity to scale up to 1 gigawatt (GW). Meta plans to invest over $1.5 billion to ensure the data center becomes operational by 2028. In addition, Meta is building a massive data center in Louisiana. Meta is expected to spend up to $72 billion in capital expenditures this year, including projects related to AI infrastructure.

CNBC reported, “OpenAI, CoreWeave, and Oracle are also signing large-scale data center-related contracts that require significant funding,” adding, “These companies are racing to build the infrastructure they believe will be necessary as demand for AI technology continues to grow.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.