Meta-BlackRock Data Center Exposes Lenders to Insurance Gap

Meta’s partnership with BlackRock highlights how technology companies are tapping outside capital to fund the rapidly rising cost of artificial-intelligence infrastructure. By using a joint-venture and project-finance structure, Meta can expand computing capacity while limiting the burden on its own capital spending and free cash flow, as competition for the data centers and power needed to train and run AI models intensifies.

The companies have formed a venture valued at about $14 billion to develop a 1-gigawatt AI data center campus in El Paso, Texas. The facility is expected to begin coming online in 2028, adding a major block of computing capacity for Meta’s AI expansion. The financing structure allows the partners to share development costs and risks while accelerating construction of the power-intensive infrastructure.

Meta Platforms is leaning on special-purpose vehicles to fund the vast computing capacity required for artificial intelligence while limiting direct debt on its balance sheet. The structure turns long-dated data-center leases into infrastructure assets that can be sold to bond investors. Yet the latest financing is testing appetite for Big Tech’s AI buildout as capital spending surges and investors scrutinize whether future demand and cash generation will justify increasingly large commitments.

The Financial Times reported on July 24, 2026, that BlackRock-controlled Sopaipilla Investor is preparing a $12 billion bond sale for a nearly 1-gigawatt data-center project in El Paso, Texas. The vehicle would own 80% and Meta 20%. Early discussions point to a yield above 7%, with some investors seeking about 40 basis points more than on the $27 billion Hyperion financing completed in October 2025. The transaction could launch as soon as July 27, though terms may change.