Key Facts & Players
A consortium including BlackRock, Nvidia, Microsoft, xAI (Elon Musk’s AI outfit), MGX (Abu Dhabi’s AI investment arm), Kuwait Investment Authority, and Temasek has agreed to acquire Aligned Data Centers in a deal valued at ~ $40 billion (enterprise value).
The deal is the first major transaction by the AI Infrastructure Partnership (AIP)—a consortium formed to channel capital into next-generation AI infrastructure.
Aligned currently operates (or has planned) over 5 gigawatts of AI-optimized data center capacity across about 50 campuses in the U.S. and Latin America.
The company will remain based in Dallas (Texas) under its existing leadership, with the transaction expected to close in early to mid-2026.
The consortium is initially deploying $30 billion in equity capital, although total capital (equity + debt) could reach $100 billion over time.
Strategic Implications & Context
Why this deal matters:
Control over AI infrastructure
As AI models become more compute-intensive, owning data center capacity (power, cooling, real estate, network) becomes a strategic asset. This deal signals how critical infrastructure is shifting from third-party hosting to consortium ownership.
Scale & consolidation trend
The deal is among the largest ever for a private data center operator, reflecting broader consolidation in the data center / cloud infrastructure space.
Financial engineering via capital pools
The use of a large investment vehicle (AIP) combining public and private capital shows how infrastructure investing is being rethought for AI’s capital demands.
Energy & resource risk
AI data centers demand enormous power, cooling, real estate, and water resources. Managing energy supply, sustainability and grid constraints will be critical.
A consortium including BlackRock, Nvidia, Microsoft, xAI (Elon Musk’s AI outfit), MGX (Abu Dhabi’s AI investment arm), Kuwait Investment Authority, and Temasek has agreed to acquire Aligned Data Centers in a deal valued at ~ $40 billion (enterprise value).
The deal is the first major transaction by the AI Infrastructure Partnership (AIP)—a consortium formed to channel capital into next-generation AI infrastructure.
Aligned currently operates (or has planned) over 5 gigawatts of AI-optimized data center capacity across about 50 campuses in the U.S. and Latin America.
The company will remain based in Dallas (Texas) under its existing leadership, with the transaction expected to close in early to mid-2026.
The consortium is initially deploying $30 billion in equity capital, although total capital (equity + debt) could reach $100 billion over time.
Strategic Implications & Context
Why this deal matters:
Control over AI infrastructure
As AI models become more compute-intensive, owning data center capacity (power, cooling, real estate, network) becomes a strategic asset. This deal signals how critical infrastructure is shifting from third-party hosting to consortium ownership.
Scale & consolidation trend
The deal is among the largest ever for a private data center operator, reflecting broader consolidation in the data center / cloud infrastructure space.
Financial engineering via capital pools
The use of a large investment vehicle (AIP) combining public and private capital shows how infrastructure investing is being rethought for AI’s capital demands.
Energy & resource risk
AI data centers demand enormous power, cooling, real estate, and water resources. Managing energy supply, sustainability and grid constraints will be critical.
- Competitive positioning
The consortium avoids paying for compute every time; instead, they can lease AI-ready campuses to hyperscalers (like Microsoft, Google, OpenAI) on favorable terms, potentially capturing long-term recurring revenue.
Risks and uncertainties:
Regulatory / antitrust scrutiny
Because the consortium includes major AI and tech players, regulators may examine whether the deal could create unfair leverage or lock up critical infrastructure.
Execution & integration
Scaling 5 GW+ of capacity across wide geographies is nontrivial. Delays, supply chain constraints, energy bottlenecks, and local permitting are all risks.
Valuation sensitivity
A $40 billion valuation assumes bullish growth in demand. If AI/computing demand slows (or margins compress), returns could be weaker than projected.
Debt / leverage exposure
If much of the deal is financed via debt (to reach the full $100B target), leverage risk becomes material, especially in a rising rate environment.
BlackRock, Nvidia-backed group strikes $40 billion AI data center deal
An investor group including BlackRock, Microsoft and Nvidia is buying one of the world's biggest data center operators with nearly 80 sites in a deal worth $40 billion to secure coveted computing capacity for artificial intelligence.www.reuters.com
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