BlackRock leads $12 billion debt sale for Meta-backed Texas data center

BlackRock is reshaping infrastructure finance by leading a $12 billion debt sale for a Texas data center campus, the latest sign that private credit is becoming the dominant funding engine for AI buildout.

BlackRock is leading a debt sale targeting at least $12 billion for its massive new El Paso data-center project backed by Meta Platforms, people familiar with the matter said. The world's largest investment firm, along with its infrastructure and private-credit arms, owns an 80% stake in the Texas complex, while Meta, which will use the data centers, owns the other 20%. The campus is expected to have around 1 gigawatt of capacity.

"The scale of these financings reflects how AI infrastructure has become a new asset class requiring institutional-grade capital markets solutions," a person familiar with the transaction said. JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley are leading the debt sale and are reaching out to potential investors, the people said.

The deal follows a nearly $30 billion debt package completed by Meta and Blue Owl Capital last year to finance a data center in Louisiana, where BlackRock bought more than $3 billion of the bonds. In that structure, Blue Owl owned 80% of the joint venture while Meta held 20% — the same template now being used in El Paso. BlackRock has been partnering with AI hyperscalers and investing tens of billions of dollars into data centers over the past year, including a $40 billion deal to buy Aligned Data Centers.

The transaction shows how BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink's push into private-market investing — through the acquisitions of Global Infrastructure Partners and HPS Investment Partners — has transformed the $15 trillion asset manager into an active owner and operator of physical assets. For Meta, the deal secures compute capacity for its artificial intelligence workloads at a time when hyperscalers are racing to lock in power and data center space. The El Paso campus is expected to have around 1 GW of capacity, enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes.

Private Credit's Expanding Role in AI Infrastructure

The El Paso financing is the latest example of multibillion-dollar debt packages supporting the rapid buildout of AI infrastructure. Private credit firms, once confined to middle-market lending, are now underwriting some of the largest project financings in history. The Louisiana deal last year, at $27 billion, was the largest private-debt offering ever. BlackRock's $3 billion-plus participation in that deal showed the asset manager's appetite for large-scale infrastructure debt.

The structure also highlights the growing convergence between traditional capital markets and private credit. By tapping JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley to lead the debt sale, BlackRock is using Wall Street's distribution networks to place paper that might otherwise remain in private hands. This hybrid approach — private equity ownership with public-market-style bond issuance — could become the template for future mega-projects.

What's at Stake for Investors

For BlackRock, the deal represents both a fee-generating opportunity and a strategic bet on the durability of AI-driven demand for data centers. The firm's $15 trillion in assets under management gives it the balance sheet to underwrite projects at a scale few competitors can match. For bond investors, the offering provides exposure to a fast-growing asset class backed by Meta's credit quality.

The bonds are expected to be priced early next week, with investor presentations already underway. If successful, the deal could open the door for similar structures from other hyperscalers racing to build out AI infrastructure, further entrenching private credit as a permanent fixture in large-scale project finance.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.