BlackRock, Nvidia, xAI, and Microsoft will buy Aligned Data Centers for $40 billion, the firms said on Wednesday.
The agreement highlights a growing competition to develop the expensive, supply-constrained infrastructure necessary to run artificial intelligence technology, as businesses compete to construct the most complex AI models.
The purchase comes after other mega-deals aimed at obtaining highly sought-after computing capacity. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has announced deals in recent weeks that amount to around 26 gigawatts of processing capability, which is enough to power about 20 million households in the United States.
The investment group, known as the Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership (AIP), plans to spend $30 billion in equity capital initially, with the possibility of exceeding $100 billion with debt.
This is the first investment made by AIP. It is anticipated that the deal would finalize in the first half of 2026.
Larry Fink, chairman of AIP and CEO of BlackRock, stated, “This investment in Aligned Data Centers advances our objective of providing the infrastructure required to drive the future of AI.”
Temasek, a state-owned investor in Singapore, and the Kuwait Investment Authority are also anchor investors in AIP.
Aligned designs, constructs, and manages data centers for corporations, neocloud, and hyperscalers.
Across the United States and Latin America, its portfolio consists of 50 campuses and over 5 gigawatts of planned and operating capacity, including assets under under development. Aligned will remain based in Dallas, Texas, and will be managed by CEO Andrew Schaap.
Last week, OpenAI announced a 6-gigawatt AI chip supply agreement with AMD, which includes the opportunity to purchase a share in the chipmaker, only days after Nvidia announced plans to invest up to $100 billion in the firm and provide it with data center systems capable of at least 10 gigawatts.
