Meta Partners with BlackRock to Build $14 Billion Data Center

July 28th News, according to Reuters, Meta Platforms (META.O) and BlackRock announced that they will jointly invest in and own a data center campus located in El Paso, Texas. The campus is currently under construction and will have 1 gigawatt of computing power. Meta will provide construction management, administrative management, and property management for the campus and will be its first sole user after completion. The transaction is expected to be completed in the coming days, and the project is scheduled to begin online operations in 2028. The El Paso data center is part of Meta's investment of over $10 billion. Upon completion, it will support over 4,000 construction jobs and 300 operational jobs at its peak. More than 2,300 workers are currently on site. A fund managed by BlackRock will hold an 80% stake in the joint venture, while Meta will retain the remaining 20%. Both parties have committed to jointly fund and proportionally bear approximately $14 billion in development costs for the campus's buildings and long-term power, cooling, and communication infrastructure.