BlackRock leads at least $12 billion in debt financing to support Meta's Texas data center project

According to the Wall Street Journal, BlackRock is taking the lead in raising at least $12 billion in debt financing for Meta's new data center project in El Paso, Texas. BlackRock and its infrastructure and private credit arm hold 80% of the project, Meta holds the remaining 20%, and the park is expected to have approximately 1 gigawatt of capacity. JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley are leading the massive debt offering and are reaching out to other potential investors. The project has a structure similar to the Meta Louisiana Data Center, which is 80% owned by BlueOwl and 20% owned by Meta, and is supported through debt financing. In addition, Meta has agreed to lease a large data center project developed by BlackRock backed Aligned Data Centers in Shippingport, Pennsylvania. BlackRock has continued to expand investment in AI data centers over the past year, including the $40 billion acquisition of Aligned Data Centers. BlackRock was also previously one of the major investors in Meta's Louisiana Data Center's $27 billion private debt financing and bought more than $3 billion in bonds in the deal.