Meta Platforms Inc. and BlackRock Inc. plan to build a 1-gigawatt data center complex in Texas that will cost about $14 billion to develop, adding to a wave of investment in the computing hubs that power artificial intelligence.
The facility will go online in 2028 with Meta as the initial sole tenant, the company said Tuesday. BlackRock funds will hold an 80% interest in the joint venture, while Meta will retain the remaining 20%.
The $14 billion development costs don’t include the cutting-edge chips required to power AI models. A 1GW data center typically costs $35 billion to $50 billion.
Tech firms including Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Meta and Microsoft Corp., have been aggressively building out data centers in pursuit of dominance in the still-nascent market for AI tools. The unprecedented scale of development is being financed through a mix of capital expenditure, private infrastructure funds, debt and sovereign wealth.
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Meta will initially contribute land and other assets valued at about $2.3 billion and receive a one-time payment of $1 billion.
BlackRock will contribute about $4.9 billion in cash, with some of its portion funded by about $12.5 billion of bonds that were sold Monday after a nearly weeklong process and weaker-than-expected investor demand. The investment-grade debt offered yields that were more in line with riskier junk-rated bonds, which rose in early trading in part because of the hefty concessions it priced at.
The El Paso project is part of Meta Compute, the social media company’s initiative to build out AI infrastructure and sell access to excess computing power. Meta will enter lease agreements for the facility with a four-year initial term, with options to extend.
The joint venture with BlackRock “allows us to move faster and at greater scale,” Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said in the statement.
Earlier this year, Meta raised its spending outlook for the year to $125 billion to $145 billion, driven by heavy investment into AI infrastructure and higher component pricing. The company reports second-quarter earnings on Wednesday, during which it is likely to give an update on its spending plans.