Meta and BlackRock team up to build a $14 billion data center

PANews July 28, according to Reuters, Meta Platforms (META.O) and BlackRock announced that they will jointly invest in and own a data center campus in El Paso, Texas. The campus is currently under construction and will have 1 gigawatt of computing capacity. Meta will provide construction management, administrative management, and property management services, and after the campus is completed it will become its first and sole user. The deal is expected to be completed within the next few days, and the project is planned to begin operations in 2028. The El Paso data center is a project that Meta is investing more than $10B in; upon completion, it will support more than 4,000 construction jobs and 300 operations jobs during peak periods. There are already more than 2,300 workers on site. A fund managed by BlackRock will hold 80% of the joint venture, while Meta will retain the remaining 20%. Both parties have committed to contribute jointly, covering, on a proportional basis, about $14B in development costs for the campus’s on-site construction and long-term power, cooling, and communications infrastructure.