Key Takeaways:
BlackRock Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. are jointly developing a $14 billion data center campus in El Paso, Texas, marking the latest hyperscale infrastructure deal as technology companies race to secure capacity for artificial intelligence workloads.
The venture, announced Tuesday, will build a 1-gigawatt campus — enough to power roughly 830,000 US homes — with initial capacity expected online in 2028. Funds managed by BlackRock will hold an 80 percent stake, while Meta retains the remaining 20 percent.
"This partnership with Mark and the Meta leadership team will create thousands of skilled jobs and help drive economic growth in the local community," Larry Fink, chairman and chief executive officer of BlackRock, said. "Companies around the world are looking for long-term strategic partners to help develop their most important projects, and BlackRock is built to meet that need."
Meta will contribute land and construction-in-progress assets valued at roughly $2.3 billion at financial close, while BlackRock will make a cash contribution of approximately $4.9 billion. Meta will receive a one-time distribution of about $1 billion to align ownership with the 80/20 split. A portion of BlackRock's investment will be funded through a $12.5 billion debt financing, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley anchoring the bond offering and planning to syndicate remaining debt to outside investors.
The El Paso campus represents an investment of more than $10 billion from Meta alone, supporting over 4,000 construction jobs at peak and 300 permanent operational roles. More than 2,300 workers are already on site. Meta will enter into lease agreements with the venture for the entire campus, with a four-year initial term and four options to extend, providing flexibility over a potential 20-year period. Meta also will provide residual value guarantees with an aggregate threshold of approximately $13 billion that decreases over time.
Deal Structure Mirrors Louisiana Precedent
The El Paso arrangement follows the same template Meta used for its Hyperion project in Richland Parish, Louisiana, where an 80/20 joint venture between a private-credit firm and Meta issued $27 billion in debt — the largest private-debt offering on record. BlackRock was among the investors in that deal, purchasing more than $3 billion of the bonds. Meta has since expanded Hyperion to 5 gigawatts of compute capacity at an estimated cost exceeding $50 billion, with that expansion owned entirely by Meta rather than through a joint venture.
The structure allows Meta to keep liabilities off its own balance sheet while securing the massive power and cooling infrastructure required for AI training and inference. For BlackRock, the deal provides exposure to one of the fastest-growing segments of infrastructure investment.
BlackRock's Data Center Push Accelerates
The El Paso venture comes alongside BlackRock's $40 billion acquisition of Aligned Data Centers, which closed this week in partnership with Global Infrastructure Partners and MGX. Aligned's portfolio spans more than 6.4 gigawatts of operational and planned capacity across 51 campuses, including a Pennsylvania project recently leased by Meta.
The two transactions — roughly $57 billion in combined data center commitments — underscore BlackRock's aggressive push into digital infrastructure. The firm has assembled capabilities across Global Infrastructure Management, HPS Investment Partners, and Global Infrastructure Partners to compete for hyperscale deals that require billions in committed capital.
Large technology companies are expected to spend roughly $5.5 trillion on artificial intelligence through 2030, much of it funded through debt markets, according to JPMorgan Chase strategists cited by Bloomberg. US data center investment has surged since 2023, with CBRE reporting a record $48 billion in global activity during 2025.
For investors, the deal signals that hyperscale capital deployment is accelerating rather than peaking. Meta shares have risen roughly 40 percent over the past 12 months as the company has convinced markets that its AI spending will generate long-term returns. BlackRock, trading at about 23 times forward earnings, is positioning its infrastructure platform to capture fee income from the buildout regardless of which technology company ultimately wins the AI race.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
