BlackRock leads $12B Meta data-centre financing
BlackRock is leading at least $12B of debt financing for a Meta-backed Texas data-centre project expected to provide roughly 1GW of capacity.
Individual AI data-centre projects are becoming large enough to require financing structures more commonly associated with power plants and transport infrastructure.
What happened
BlackRock is leading a debt sale targeting at least $12B for a new Meta-backed data-centre project in El Paso, Texas.
BlackRock’s infrastructure and private-credit operations reportedly control 80% of the project entity, while Meta owns 20% and will use the facility. The planned complex is expected to provide roughly 1GW of capacity.
The financing is separate from the BlackRock-backed consortium’s acquisition of Aligned Data Centers. This transaction supports a specific Meta-linked project rather than the purchase of an existing global operator.
Why it matters
Hyperscalers need enormous amounts of new compute but may not want every facility sitting directly on their own balance sheets. Project structures can give them long-term access to capacity while infrastructure investors supply construction capital and accept ownership exposure.
Private credit is also well suited to projects backed by long-term usage commitments from large technology companies.
The bigger picture
AI infrastructure is pulling technology companies deeper into energy and project finance. Future competitive advantage will depend on securing power, land and funding years before the resulting capacity comes online.
The Texas deal shows how investment firms are becoming partners in the physical expansion of AI, not merely shareholders in the software companies using it.