BlackRock and MGX Boost Aligned Data Centers with $5 Billion
A powerful investment consortium backed by BlackRock and the Abu Dhabi-based fund MGX announced on Tuesday that it has committed an additional $5 billion in growth capital to Aligned Data Centers. This massive financial pledge comes immediately after the group closed its $40 billion acquisition of the Texas-based company, which ranks as one of the world's biggest data center operators.
The investor group originally agreed last year to purchase Aligned from the Australian asset manager Macquarie Asset Management. The primary goal of this monumental acquisition is to secure critical computing capacity required for the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence sector.
Expanding Global AI Infrastructure
Founded in 2013, Aligned Data Centers specializes in building and operating advanced data centers for hyperscalers and cloud computing companies. The company's massive footprint currently includes 51 data center campuses and boasts more than 6.4 gigawatts of operational and planned capacity globally.
Leadership will remain stable through this major transition. Andrew Schaap, who has served as the chief executive of Aligned Data Centers since 2017, will continue to lead the company.
A Multi-Billion Dollar Vision
This acquisition adds to a massive, ongoing wave of global investment in digital infrastructure. Tech companies are desperately expanding their computing capacity to support and train advanced AI tools such as ChatGPT.
The BlackRock and MGX-backed group has highly ambitious financial plans for the future. They aim to deploy an initial $30 billion of equity capital, with the potential of reaching up to $100 billion when including debt. This staggering scale of investment firmly positions the consortium as a dominant force in the global AI infrastructure race.