Meta and BlackRock form $14 billion El Paso data-center venture

Meta Platforms and BlackRock on Tuesday announced a venture to develop and operate a data center campus in El Paso, Texas, a project that would cost about $14 billion in development, Reuters reported. Meta said BlackRock-managed funds will take an 80% ownership stake, with Meta retaining the remaining 20%. A portion of BlackRock's investment will be financed through $12.5 billion in debt, and Meta will also receive a $1 billion distribution to align ownership, according to the report. Meta will contribute land and in-progress construction assets worth about $2.3 billion, while BlackRock will make a cash contribution of about $4.9 billion, the company said. The campus is already under construction and is designed to provide 1 gigawatt of compute capacity for Meta's AI technologies and core business, with operations expected to commence in 2028. Reuters reported that technology firms have turned to large debt sales and external capital from fund managers such as BlackRock as AI infrastructure investment has scaled. Meta earlier described an over $10 billion El Paso project among 28 U.S. data centers in operation or under construction, and has said it plans to invest $600 billion to build data centers by 2028. Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan Securities advised Meta on the transaction.