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BlackRock Leads $40B AI Data Center Acquisition

10/15/2025

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Summary

BlackRock Acquires Aligned

BlackRock, Inc., with Microsoft Corp., Nvidia Corp., and other investors, agreed to acquire Aligned Data Centers for $40 billion.
The deal is facilitated through the Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership (AIP) to secure critical AI computing capacity.
The acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2026, as Aligned operates 50 campuses with over 5 gigawatts across the U.S. and Latin America.

Summary

OpenAI Drives AI Investment

OpenAI leads a surge in AI infrastructure investments with $1 trillion in deals this year.
OpenAI signed a $300 billion Oracle data-center deal and a $22 billion CoreWeave GPU deal.
Nscale will deliver 200,000 Nvidia GPUs for Microsoft across multiple data centers.
Nscale CEO Josh Payne says rapid growth and plans an IPO by next year.
Experts warn of inflated AI valuations and a potential bubble.

History

Historical Context

The emergence of the Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership (AIP) in 2023, backed by investors like BlackRock and Microsoft, marks a pivotal moment in AI investment, paralleling the 1999 dot-com bubble. With $1 trillion in AI infrastructure investments, concerns about sustainability and overvaluation echo past market crashes, highlighting the need for careful oversight in this rapidly evolving sector.

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BlackRock Acquires Aligned

BlackRock, Inc., with Microsoft Corp., Nvidia Corp., and other investors, agreed to acquire Aligned Data Centers for $40 billion.
The deal is facilitated through the Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership (AIP) to secure critical AI computing capacity.
The acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2026, as Aligned operates 50 campuses with over 5 gigawatts across the U.S. and Latin America.

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