Microsoft, BlackRock, and additional companies have joined forces to pool up to $100 billion for the development of data centers dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI) and the energy infrastructure necessary to support them. This initiative is part of the Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership (GAIIP), which was recently announced in a press release.
Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), an investor currently undergoing acquisition by BlackRock, and MGX, a technology investor in the United Arab Emirates, are also key participants in this partnership.
Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, highlighted the group’s commitment to driving innovation and growth across all sectors of the economy through AI in the announcement. He emphasized that the collaboration unites financial and industry leaders to build future infrastructure in a sustainable manner.
The partnership’s immediate objective is to raise $30 billion in initial capital, with an extended goal of securing up to $100 billion, factoring in debt financing.
The tech industry is rapidly constructing data centers equipped with Nvidia GPUs, which are essential for running generative AI models, such as those powering OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The increased demand for these GPUs, which require significant power, has led to delays in establishing new facilities.
Microsoft’s investment in this initiative adds to its existing capital expenditures for expanding its Azure public cloud infrastructure, which supports AI customers including OpenAI. In the fiscal fourth quarter, Microsoft reported $19 billion in capital spending, which includes assets acquired under finance leases.
BlackRock announced in January its intention to acquire GIP for $3 billion in cash and approximately 12 million shares of BlackRock common stock. Last week, BlackRock stated that it expects to finalize the acquisition on October 1.
MGX was launched in March with Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala and AI firm G42 as founding partners.
In related news, the rise in artificial intelligence has significantly increased power demand within the tech industry.
