Meta and BlackRock have partnered on a $14 billion venture to develop a large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) data center in El Paso, Texas. The project underscores the growing investment needed to build the infrastructure powering the next generation of AI. It also ranks among Meta’s biggest AI infrastructure investments and highlights the increasing role of institutional investors in funding large-scale computing facilities.
The venture will develop a one-gigawatt AI data center campus. The first computing capacity is expected to come online in 2028. Meta will initially occupy the entire facility to support its expanding portfolio of AI products and services.
Under the agreement, BlackRock-managed funds will own 80% of the joint venture, while Meta will retain the remaining 20%. The project combines equity and debt financing. BlackRock-managed funds will provide about $4.9 billion in equity financing. Meanwhile, Meta is contributing the El Paso site and partially completed construction assets valued at roughly $2.3 billion.
The ownership structure gives Meta access to critical AI infrastructure while allowing it to share development costs. Although Meta will own only a 20% stake, it will initially use 100% of the facility’s computing capacity.
More importantly, the partnership reflects a broader shift in how companies finance AI infrastructure. As demand for advanced AI models grows, technology companies continue to invest billions of dollars in data centers, specialized chips, networking equipment and power infrastructure. As a result, many firms now work with institutional investors to support large-scale projects.
For BlackRock, the venture expands its exposure to digital infrastructure, a sector attracting growing investor interest as AI adoption accelerates. At the same time, Meta secures additional computing capacity without funding the entire project on its own.
The El Paso campus will deliver one gigawatt of AI computing capacity, making it one of the largest AI-focused data center developments announced to date. Such facilities require significant investments in electricity, cooling systems and high-performance computing hardware. Consequently, they have become some of the most capital-intensive projects in the technology industry.
The announcement also reflects the broader AI race. Meta joins Microsoft, Google, Amazon and other technology companies investing heavily in infrastructure needed to train and deploy increasingly powerful AI models. Moreover, competition now extends beyond software development to computing capacity, energy resources and data center expansion.
Ultimately, Meta’s partnership with BlackRock shows that the next phase of AI development depends on more than building better models. It also requires the capital, computing capacity and energy needed to power AI at scale.
