Meta and BlackRock announce $14 billion joint project to build AI data center capacity.

Meta has partnered with BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, to establish a joint venture and construct a $14 billion (approximately 20 trillion Korean won) AI data center in El Paso, Texas. As AI infrastructure investment costs have surged dramatically, Meta is avoiding the full financial burden by building data centers with external capital and leasing them.

According to Reuters and other outlets reporting on July 28, the joint venture will be 80% owned by funds managed by BlackRock and 20% by Meta. Meta will contribute approximately $2.3 billion (around 3.35 trillion Korean won) in assets, including land and construction-in-progress, as an in-kind investment. BlackRock will inject capital through debt financing and other means, with both parties sharing development and infrastructure costs according to their equity stakes. This structure allocates the substantial majority of the investment to BlackRock.

Under a sale-leaseback model, Meta will lease the entire facility from the joint venture for long-term operations without direct ownership. When completed in 2028, the facility will provide 1 gigawatt of computational capacity—equivalent to a large nuclear power plant's output—supporting Meta's AI model training, inference, and service operations.

The joint venture structure reflects growing concerns over the financial strain of AI investments on corporate balance sheets and cash flow. Beyond Meta, major tech firms are securing substantial capital for AI infrastructure and power grid expansion through corporate bond issuances and capital from private equity funds, insurers, and infrastructure investors.

Despite concerns about potential overbuilding—where AI demand may fail to keep pace with capacity expansions—companies are competing fiercely to secure computing power in anticipation of future market dominance. As Reuters noted, "As data centers increasingly rely on debt for construction amid the AI boom, worries about financial risks are growing."