BlackRock and Microsoft have launched a fund that could spend as much as $100B on the build-out of new data centers and other artificial intelligence infrastructure.
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The partnership, which also includes asset manager Global Infrastructure Partners and United Arab Emirates-backed tech fund MGX, plans to raise $30B in private equity capital to invest in new and expanded data centers and energy generation projects needed to meet growing demand for AI computing power, the firms announced Tuesday.
Called the Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership, the fund would leverage its capital raise to support up to $100B in investments when including debt financing. The announcement comes as AI is expected to drive trillions of dollars in infrastructure spending over the next ten years.
“The need to build out data centers globally is multi-trillions of dollars to finance,” BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said in an interview with Bloomberg. “This is just a great example of the capital markets building out infrastructure and building out the opportunities and new technologies.”
The fund’s investments will mostly be focused on data center and energy projects in the U.S., with some located in U.S. partner countries, according to a joint statement from the companies leading the fund. AI chipmaking behemoth Nvidia will be actively involved in these development efforts, providing expertise in AI data centers and other infrastructure.
The partnership’s principals say they will also use the fund’s massive buying power to help enhance supply chains and energy sourcing for the benefit of its customers and the industry more broadly.
Fink told Bloomberg that the partnership intends to pursue additional investors, like pensions and insurers — funds with massive capital pools and a tolerance for longer investment timelines and narrower returns that have emerged as major backers of the data center industry’s record growth.
BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, and this would be its largest-ever alternative investment fund, according to The Wall Street Journal. BlackRock is also in the process of acquiring GIP, one of the partners in the fund, in a deal valued at close to $12.5B.
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