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An investor consortium that includes BlackRock, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Elon Musk’s xAI has agreed to acquire Aligned Data Centers in a deal valued at $40 billion. The group, which also features Abu Dhabi-based MGX, Kuwait Investment Authority, and Singapore’s Temasek, will purchase the company from Macquarie Asset Management. The transaction marks one of the largest global data center acquisitions to date and is expected to close in the first half of 2026, pending regulatory approval.
Aligned Data Centers is a company established in both North and South America, with a total of over 50 campuses, and its total operational and planned capacity exceeds 5 gigawatts. The company was established in 2013 and is based in Dallas, Texas, which has been fortunate enough to experience the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure investment. Its customer base includes cloud computing and IT service providers such as Nutanix and Datto. Earlier this year, Aligned raised $12 billion in equity and debt to expand its data center capacity and land portfolio.
This acquisition will mark the initial significant investment of the Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership (AIP), which is a partnership formed in 2024 by BlackRock, MGX, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The team intends to accelerate the growth of AI infrastructure worldwide by investing up to $30 billion in equity funding, with a total of $ 100 billion when incorporating debt capital.
Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock and Chairman of AIP, stated that this investment supports the consortium's goal of developing the necessary infrastructure to advance AI innovation. Furthermore, Aligned offers immediate access to large-scale computing and energy capacity, which is crucial for supporting advanced AI workloads.
Investors view data centers as essential assets in the AI boom. As AI adoption accelerates, the demand for robust computing capabilities has risen significantly, leading to substantial investments in high-performance data centers that support machine learning and cloud applications.
The rise in competition among technology companies and investors to gain control over computing power is reflected in the Aligned acquisition. Morgan Stanley estimates that top companies, including Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and CoreWeave, will spend approximately $ 400 billion this year on AI infrastructure.
OpenAI has also agreed with Nvidia, AMD, and Broadcom for over $1 trillion to obtain approximately 26 gigawatts of computing power, which is sufficient to serve around 20 million households in the United States. Meta Platforms is building several massive AI data centers, including Prometheus and Hyperion, which can produce several gigawatts of power.
The analysts observe that the acquisition of Aligned reflects investors' confidence in the long-term profitability of data center assets. The transaction positions AIP and its partners at the heart of the global AI infrastructure race, which will help meet the growing demands of the AI economy for computational power and energy.
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