BlackRock, Nvidia-backed group strikes $40 billion AI data center deal

By Arsheeya Bajwa and Aditya Soni (Reuters) -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. The purchase of U.S.-based Aligned Data Centers from Australian Macquarie Asset Management on Wednesday is the first deal for the AI Infrastructure Partnership formed last year which also includes Abu Dhabi-based fund MGX and Elon Musk's startup xAI among its backers. "With this investment in Aligned Data Centers, we further our goal of delivering the infrastructure necessary to power the future of AI," said BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, who also serves as the chairman of the AI Infrastructure Partnership. DEALS TO SNAP UP CHIPS AND INFRASTRUCTURE The acquisition is the latest in a series of big-ticket deals from Big Tech and Silicon Valley startups that has been fueled by the boom in AI.  Major tech companies including Alphabet, Amazon.com, Meta, Microsoft and CoreWeave, are on track to spend $400 billion on AI infrastructure this year, Morgan Stanley estimates. OpenAI, the startup at the heart of the AI boom, struck deals in recent weeks with chipmakers Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom that may cost over $1 trillion to secure about 26 gigawatts of computing capacity, enough to power roughly 20 million U.S. homes. Meta Platforms is building several multi-gigawatt AI data centers, including one called Prometheus due to come online in 2026 and another, Hyperion, that can scale up to 5 gigawatts. Privately-held Aligned Data Centers currently has over 5 gigawatts of operational and planned capacity located across 50 campuses in the U.S. and Latin America. Joe Tigay, portfolio manager at Nvidia shareholder Equity Armor Investments, said the acquisition highlights the growing value of data center assets for investors. "They’re looking at rapid expansion to meet AI demand and optimize for it." SPENDING SURGE AS INTEREST BOOMS Aligned has been a big winner of the AI infrastructure spending boom, raising $12 billion in equity and debt earlier this year in one of the largest private capital injections into a data center company. Shares of its publicly listed rivals, such as Applied Digital, have soared more than four-fold this year. Applied Digital shares jumped 5% on Wednesday. The investment group buying Aligned also includes Kuwait Investment Authority and Singapore state-owned investor Temasek as anchor investors. It has an initial target of deploying $30 billion of equity capital, with the potential of reaching $100 billion including debt. It has not disclosed how much each partner has contributed to the tie-up or the equity value of Wednesday's deal. Nvidia and Aligned declined to comment, while the investors did not immediately respond to requests seeking more details on the deal. Aligned will remain headquartered in Dallas, Texas, under CEO Andrew Schaap when the deal closes in the first half of 2026, the investor group said in its statement. (Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Elaine Hardcastle)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)