BlackRock and Meta are building a 1GW AI campus in El Paso

Signals Inbox·July 30, 2026·Data Centers

Meta is bringing BlackRock into a roughly $14 billion data center project in El Paso that is expected to reach 1GW. The surprising part is not just the size. BlackRock-managed funds will reportedly own 80% of the venture while Meta owns 20%, showing how the AI infrastructure race is moving from tech balance sheets into private capital.

Q1What actually happened?

Meta officially announced a venture with BlackRock to develop and own its data center campus in El Paso, Texas. The site is expected to reach 1GW, cost roughly $14 billion, and begin operating in 2028. BlackRock-managed funds will reportedly own 80% of the venture, while Meta keeps 20%.

Q2Why is the 80% ownership split important?

Because Meta needs the computing capacity without wanting to fund and own every building itself. BlackRock brings outside capital, while Meta commits to using the campus over many years. Meta gets the servers and power it needs, and investors get an infrastructure asset backed by one of the world’s biggest technology companies.

Q3How big is 1GW?

It is power-plant scale. A gigawatt is 1,000 megawatts, which puts this far beyond a normal corporate data center. The El Paso project also started much smaller. Meta originally discussed an investment of around $1.5 billion, then expanded the plan beyond $10 billion as the campus grew to 1GW. The latest reported project value is roughly $14 billion.

Q4Has Meta already used this playbook?

Yes. Meta formed a similar venture with Blue Owl for its Hyperion campus in Louisiana. Blue Owl took an 80% stake and Meta retained 20%. Hyperion is now being expanded toward 5GW. El Paso shows that this is becoming a repeatable financing model, not a one-off deal.

Q5Why bring in BlackRock now?

AI infrastructure is becoming too expensive to fund casually. Meta needs chips, buildings, substations, cooling systems, and years of committed electricity before the models create any return. BlackRock already wants greater exposure to data centers and power infrastructure, so Meta gets capital while BlackRock gets a long-term bet on AI demand.

Q6So what is the real signal?

The AI race is becoming a financing race. The winners will not just need better models or more chips. They will need investors willing to fund entire gigawatts of infrastructure years before the capacity is fully used. Meta is turning private capital into compute, and BlackRock is turning AI demand into an infrastructure asset.