Diverse partnership’s $40 billion data center may the future of funding for AI
Another day, another multibillion-dollar data center deal.
The announced $40 billion buyout — including debt — of Texas-based Aligned Data Centers on Wednesday was the first for a consortium established last year by a diverse base of investors including giant money management firm BlackRock, Abu Dhabi-based technology investment fund MGX, and Microsoft.
Some analysts suggest the variety of investors in such a deal — including tech giants, sovereign investment funds, and the private pools of capital controlled by entities like BlackRock — will be an increasingly common sight as the enormously expensive build-out of AI infrastructure continues over the coming years.
Analysts at Morgan Stanley recently estimated that there will be some $2.9 trillion of spending on data centers globally by 2028. Some $1.4 trillion of that will be covered by the cash flows produced by giant hyperscalers like Microsoft, leaving a need for some $1.5 trillion from other sources. The analysts wrote that their “broad takeaway was bullishness on the availability of those sources of capital.”
Some analysts suggest the variety of investors in such a deal — including tech giants, sovereign investment funds, and the private pools of capital controlled by entities like BlackRock — will be an increasingly common sight as the enormously expensive build-out of AI infrastructure continues over the coming years.
Analysts at Morgan Stanley recently estimated that there will be some $2.9 trillion of spending on data centers globally by 2028. Some $1.4 trillion of that will be covered by the cash flows produced by giant hyperscalers like Microsoft, leaving a need for some $1.5 trillion from other sources. The analysts wrote that their “broad takeaway was bullishness on the availability of those sources of capital.”
