BlackRock, Nvidia-backed group strikes $40 bil. data center deal to fuel AI boom

An investment consortium that includes BlackRock, Nvidia, xAI and Microsoft will acquire Aligned Data Centers in a deal worth $40 billion, the companies said on Wednesday. The deal underscores an intensifying race to expand the costly, supply-constrained infrastructure required to power artificial intelligence technology, as companies rush to build the most sophisticated AI models. The acquisition follows a slew of mega-deals focused on securing coveted compute capacity. ChatGPT creator OpenAI has in recent weeks unveiled agreements totaling about 26 gigawatts of computing capacity, enough to power roughly 20 million U.S. homes. The investment consortium, dubbed the Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership (AIP), has an initial target of deploying $30 billion of equity capital, with the potential of reaching $100 billion, including debt. This is AIP's first investment. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2026. "With this investment in Aligned Data Centers, we further our goal of delivering the infrastructure necessary to power the future of AI, " said LarryWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times