Record-Breaking Data Center Deal: BlackRock, Nvidia-Led Consortium to Acquire Aligned in $40bn Transaction

TradingKey - On Wednesday, local time, the "Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership" (AIP), an investment consortium comprising BlackRock, Nvidia, Abu Dhabi's MGX fund, Elon Musk's xAI company, and Microsoft, announced it will acquire Aligned Data Centers from Macquarie Asset Management.

This transaction, valued at $40 billion (including debt), ranks among the largest data center deals ever recorded. Reports indicate the deal is expected to close in the first half of 2026, pending regulatory approval.

This marks AIP's first investment since its formation, with the Kuwait Investment Authority and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek participating as core investors. According to disclosures, the consortium initially aims to deploy $300 billion in equity capital, potentially reaching $1 trillion when including debt financing, to support the construction and upgrading of data centers and energy infrastructure.

“With this investment in Aligned Data Centers, we further our goal of delivering the infrastructure necessary to power the future of AI, while offering our clients attractive opportunities to participate in its growth,” Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock and Chairman of AIP, said in a statement.

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."

Acquired entity Aligned Data Centers is one of the fastest-growing hyperscale data center operators in the Americas, having expanded rapidly since being acquired by Macquarie in 2018. It currently operates and develops 50 data center campuses across North and South America, covering key technology hubs in Northern Virginia, Chicago, and Dallas in the United States, as well as emerging markets in Latin America including São Paulo, Brazil; Querétaro, Mexico; and Santiago, Chile. With total power capacity exceeding 5 gigawatts, it primarily serves cloud computing, AI enterprises, and large corporate clients.

Aligned raised $12 billion through equity and debt financing in early 2023, one of the largest private capital injections ever for a data center company.

In recent months, top global AI developers have accelerated industry positioning through a series of transactions, injecting massive capital and resources into the booming AI technology sector while addressing infrastructure bottlenecks in power supply and data center construction, propelling the industry toward a new phase of scaled growth.

OpenAI has recently entered into intensive cooperation agreements with chip manufacturers, involving industry leaders such as Nvidia (NVDA.O), AMD (AMD.O), and Broadcom, with total transaction value expected to exceed $1 trillion. Through these partnerships, OpenAI will gain access to approximately 26 gigawatts of computing capacity — enough power to meet the electricity needs of about 20 million American households.

Meta is simultaneously advancing multiple multi-gigawatt AI data center projects, with its "Prometheus" facility scheduled to come online in 2026, while the "Hyperion" project has the potential to scale up to 5 gigawatts.

According to a previous research report from Morgan Stanley, major cloud service providers including Alphabet (Google's parent company), Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Coreweave, which specializes in AI cloud services, are expected to spend approximately $400 billion on AI infrastructure in 2025.