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BlackRock Takes 80% Stake in Meta’s $14 Billion El Paso AI Data‑Center Campus

BlackRock will bear most financing and construction risk as Meta locks in long‑term leased compute capacity for its AI buildout.

Overview

  • The companies announced the venture on Tuesday with funds managed by BlackRock owning 80% and Meta keeping 20%, and the partners expect the first of 1 gigawatt of capacity to come online in 2028.
  • The project’s development cost is about $14 billion with Meta contributing roughly $2.3 billion in land and construction‑in‑progress and BlackRock providing about $4.9 billion in cash alongside roughly $12.5 billion of project debt.
  • Meta will lease the entire campus under initial four‑year leases that include options to extend up to about 20 years and will provide residual‑value guarantees with an aggregate threshold near $13 billion to support project ratings.
  • Construction is active with more than 2,300 workers onsite and Meta estimates the build will support about 4,000 construction jobs at peak and roughly 300 permanent local jobs after completion.
  • The deal reflects a wider shift of AI‑data‑center finance to asset managers and debt markets as rising bond yields and heavy issuance push borrowing costs higher and test investor appetite for similar projects.