BlackRock, Nvidia, Microsoft Join $40B AI Data Center Acquisition
The Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership (AIP), a consortium including BlackRock, Nvidia, xAI, and Microsoft, will acquire Aligned Data Centers in a $40 billion deal, the companies announced Wednesday. This marks AIP’s first transaction as it begins building a major AI infrastructure portfolio.
The group plans to deploy $30 billion in equity initially, with total investment—including debt—potentially reaching $100 billion, underscoring the growing importance of data center capacity for AI workloads.
Aligned operates 50 campuses across the U.S. and Latin America, serving hyperscalers, enterprise clients, and emerging cloud providers. The company controls over 5 gigawatts of operating and planned capacity, including properties still under development.
The acquisition follows a wave of AI infrastructure deals, including Nebius Group’s $17.4 billion GPU supply agreement with Microsoft and CoreWeave’s $6.3 billion Nvidia server reservation.
The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2026. Bitcoin mining firms pivoting toward AI infrastructure—including Hut 8 Corp (HUT), IREN (IREN), Bitfarms (BITF), and CleanSpark (CLSK)—rose 3%–6% in early trading.
