BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and a consortium of investors have agreed to acquire Aligned Data Centers in a landmark $40 billion deal, marking one of the largest infrastructure transactions in the firm’s history and the biggest-ever data center acquisition to date.
The purchase, backed by Microsoft, Nvidia, and MGX (an AI investment firm created by Mubadala Investment Co.), underscores Wall Street’s accelerating push into AI infrastructure as demand for computing power surges.
Aligned, headquartered in Texas, operates 50 campuses and 78 data centers across the U.S. and South America, serving as a critical player in AI-driven cloud and data processing expansion. The company was previously owned by Macquarie Asset Management, which began investing in 2018 and helped secure $12 billion in equity and debt commitments earlier this year.
This acquisition highlights the growing importance of data center capacity as the foundation of the artificial intelligence economy. According to Goldman Sachs, AI-related firms have already issued $141 billion in corporate credit in 2025, surpassing last year’s total and signaling a new wave of capital flowing into AI infrastructure providers.
With BlackRock’s move, traditional finance is making its strongest bet yet that the AI revolution will be built, and powered, through data centers like Aligned.
