Meta and BlackRock to Build $14 Billion AI Campus in El Paso

Meta Platforms and asset management giant BlackRock have signed an agreement to build and operate a data center campus in El Paso, Texas. The project is valued at roughly $14 billion, with funds managed by BlackRock taking an 80 percent stake while Meta retains the remaining 20 percent.

The deal's financial structure is intricate. Meta is contributing land and partially built infrastructure worth about $2.3 billion to the venture, while BlackRock is putting in roughly $4.9 billion in cash. On top of that, Meta will receive a $1 billion payout from the new entity meant to balance the ownership split between the two partners.

Who pays for AI infrastructure

The rest of BlackRock's capital comes from a bond issuance worth more than $12 billion, which the firm arranged to fund its share of the investment. It's another example of a mechanism that has become standard across the industry in recent quarters: rather than financing massive data centers off their own balance sheets, tech companies are increasingly sharing the cost with asset managers and the debt markets.

For Meta, this means it can scale infrastructure faster without a one-time hit to its own capital expenditures. For BlackRock, it's another step in building a portfolio of "real assets" tied to the AI boom, alongside its earlier involvement in other US data center projects.

This partnership allows us to move faster and at greater scale - Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta

Our goal is to build long-term strategic partnerships around infrastructure that is critically important - Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock

Lease terms and safeguards

Meta will lease the entire campus under an initial four-year agreement with four renewal options, which could theoretically stretch the contract to as long as 20 years. The company has also provided a residual value guarantee with a $13 billion threshold, which in effect protects BlackRock's investors against a drop in the asset's value should Meta walk away from the lease earlier than planned.

Scale of investment in Texas

El Paso joins a growing list of locations where Meta is building gigawatt-scale infrastructure, with the company already running similar projects in Louisiana, among other places, where an expansion to 5 gigawatts is planned. These investments are meant to meet growing demand for the computing power needed to train and run the AI models used across Meta's products.

The project also has a local dimension. Meta has pledged $500,000 to support El Paso schools as part of a workforce development program, and BlackRock's Future Builders initiative aims to train more than 12,000 electricians over three years, a trade critical to running facilities of this kind.

Market context

The announcement comes as investors watch big tech companies' AI infrastructure spending ever more closely; Meta's stock has lost about 10 percent of its value this year, partly on concerns over the scale of its capital expenditures. Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan Securities are advising on the transaction.

For the Polish market, this particular investment carries little direct significance, but it illustrates a mechanism that is increasingly showing up locally too: AI data centers financed by investment funds rather than solely by tech companies themselves. It's a model that could be repeated in future large infrastructure projects in Europe.