Meta and BlackRock partner on $14bn El Paso Texas data center joint venture, BlackRock takes 80% stake
Meta $META and BlackRock $BLK announced a joint venture to build a $14 billion data center campus in El Paso, Texas. BlackRock funds take an 80% stake, partly financed through $12.5 billion in debt; Meta keeps 20%. The site is expected to be operational in 2028.
Meta $META and asset manager BlackRock $BLK announced a joint venture Tuesday to develop a $14 billion data center campus in El Paso, Texas, with an expected 1 gigawatt of compute capacity for Meta's AI operations. Under the deal, funds managed by BlackRock will acquire an 80% ownership stake in the campus, while Meta retains the remaining 20%. Meta will contribute land and in-progress construction assets valued at about $2.3 billion; BlackRock's stake will be funded through roughly $4.9 billion in cash plus $12.5 billion in debt. Meta will also receive a one-time $1 billion distribution to align the new ownership split. The facility, one of 33 data centers Meta has in operation or under construction globally, is expected to become operational in 2028. The structure illustrates a broader shift in how the largest technology companies are financing the AI buildout: rather than funding every campus entirely from their own balance sheets, firms including Meta are increasingly turning to private capital and debt markets managed by firms like BlackRock to share the cost and risk of AI infrastructure that can take years to pay off.