Meta, BlackRock form $14 billion venture to develop AI data center campus in Texas

Meta, BlackRock form $14 billion venture to develop AI data center campus in Texas Proactive Tue, July 28, 2026 at 6:37 PM GMT+2 3 min read META BLK Meta, BlackRock form $14 billion venture to develop AI data center campus in Texas Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META, XETRA:FB2A, SIX:FB)  and BlackRock Inc (NYSE:BLK) have formed a joint venture to develop and operate a large-scale artificial intelligence data center campus in El Paso, Texas, as Meta looks to expand the infrastructure supporting its AI ambitions. The venture will develop and own the data center campus, which is currently under construction and is expected to provide 1 gigawatt of compute capacity when it begins coming online in 2028. The project represents a total development cost of approximately $14 billion, including buildings and long-lived power, cooling and connectivity infrastructure.

Under the agreement, funds managed by BlackRock will own an 80% interest in the venture, while Meta will retain a 20% stake. The companies will fund their respective portions of the development costs, with BlackRock making an initial cash contribution of approximately $4. 9 billion and Meta contributing land and construction-in-progress assets valued at about $2.

3 billion. Meta will lease the entire campus from the venture and will remain the sole occupant upon completion. The company will provide construction management, administrative and property management services for the facility.

Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote that the partnership would allow the company to scale its AI infrastructure efforts more quickly. "Building the infrastructure for superintelligence is key to making sure the benefits of this technology are distributed to everyone," Zuckerberg wrote. "Our partnership with Larry and the team at BlackRock allows us to move faster and at greater scale, pairing our deep expertise in designing and operating world-class data centers with one of the world's leading infrastructure investors.

" The partnership comes as technology companies invest heavily in data center capacity to support the development and deployment of AI models. Meta has spent more than 15 years building and operating data centers and said the venture structure will provide additional flexibility as it expands its infrastructure footprint. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink wrote that the project would create jobs and support economic activity in the region.

"We're excited to partner with Mark and the Meta leadership team on the El Paso data center campus, which will create thousands of skilled jobs and help drive economic growth in the local community," Fink wrote. The El Paso project is expected to support more than 4,000 construction jobs at peak and approximately 300 operational jobs once complete. Meta said more than 2,300 workers are already onsite.

Story Continues The company is also supporting workforce development initiatives in the region, including a $500,000 grant to El Paso public schools focused on STEM and skilled trades education. A portion of BlackRock's investment will be funded through proceeds from a $12. 5 billion debt financing.

Meta will receive a one-time distribution of approximately $1 billion as part of the transaction structure to align ownership stakes. Meta said the transaction is expected to close in the coming days, with the venture targeting the initial deployment of capacity in 2028. Shares of BlackRock were up 3% at $1,098 on the announcement, while Meta shares were little changed at $597.