Key Points
- A consortium including BlackRock, Nvidia, Microsoft, and xAI is buying Aligned Data Centers for $40 billion.
- The deal highlights the intense race to secure the infrastructure needed for AI.
- Aligned is a major builder and operator of data centers in the U.S. and Latin America.
- This is the first investment from the new Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership (AIP).
A powerhouse consortium of tech and finance giants, including BlackRock, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Elon Musk’s xAI, is acquiring Aligned Data Centers in a massive $40 billion deal. The move is a clear sign of the intensifying race to secure the massive and costly infrastructure needed to power the artificial intelligence revolution.
The investment group, which calls itself the Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership (AIP), is making this its first major investment. The deal highlights the incredible demand for data centers, the physical backbone of the AI boom, as companies scramble to build the most powerful AI models.
“With this investment in Aligned Data Centers, we further our goal of delivering the infrastructure necessary to power the future of AI,” said Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock and chairman of the new investment group.
Aligned is a major player in the data center world, with a portfolio of 50 campuses across the U.S. and Latin America. The company designs, builds, and operates the facilities that house the thousands of powerful chips needed for AI.
This is just the latest in a string of mega-deals aimed at securing AI computing power. ChatGPT creator OpenAI has recently announced deals for a staggering 26 gigawatts of computing capacity, enough to power about 20 million homes.
The new investment group, AIP, has an initial goal of deploying $30 billion in equity, with the potential to reach $100 billion with debt, signaling that this is just the beginning of a major investment push.
