Meta and BlackRock announced a joint venture to develop and operate a state-of-the-art data center campus in El Paso, Te

Meta Platforms, Inc. and BlackRock, Inc. announced on July 28, 2026 a venture to develop and own a data center campus in El Paso, Texas. Meta has spent more than 15 years developing, constructing, and operating data center facilities, and this partnership pairs Meta's infrastructure expertise with capital partnerships to deliver the speed and flexibility required for its long-term artificial intelligence ambitions.

BlackRock, one of the world's leading investment management firms, together with Global Infrastructure Partners and HPS Investment Partners, both part of BlackRock, complements this strategy by delivering substantial capital at scale along with deep expertise in infrastructure investment and private financing to enable rapid execution of mission-critical data center projects. Meta selected BlackRock as its partner following a highly competitive process, reflecting the company's disciplined approach to diversifying its infrastructure financing as it scales Meta Compute.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder and CEO, stated: "Building the infrastructure for superintelligence is key to making sure the benefits of this technology are distributed to everyone. Our partnership with Larry and the team at BlackRock allows us to move faster and at greater scale, pairing our deep expertise in designing and operating world-class data centers with one of the world's leading infrastructure investors."

Larry Fink, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BlackRock, added: "We're excited to partner with Mark and the Meta leadership team on the El Paso data center campus, which will create thousands of skilled jobs and help drive economic growth in the local community. Companies around the world are looking for long-term strategic partners to help develop their most important projects, and BlackRock is built to meet that need. This transaction highlights the strength and scale of our combined capabilities with GIP and HPS, and how we can offer clients compelling investment opportunities at the center of AI infrastructure and energy."

The state-of-the-art campus, currently under construction in El Paso, will have 1 gigawatt of compute capacity and will play an essential role in bringing Meta's artificial intelligence technologies to life. Meta will provide construction management, administrative, and property management services and will be the initial sole occupant upon completion. The transaction is expected to close in the coming days, with the venture expecting to begin bringing capacity online in 2028.

The El Paso data center represents an investment of over $10 billion from Meta, supporting more than 4,000 construction jobs at peak and 300 operational jobs once complete, with over 2,300 workers already onsite. The site is part of America's Workforce Academy, a free skilled trades training program where participants are guaranteed a job upon graduation with a Meta partner at one of the company's data center sites. Meta has also provided a $500,000 grant to El Paso public schools to support workforce development by connecting students with practical learning experiences and career pathways in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics as well as skilled trades. Additionally, Meta will continue to partner with local nonprofits to support water restoration projects that boost water supply, enhance water quality, provide safe drinking water, and help restore local habitats.

BlackRock is supporting workforce development in Texas through Future Builders, a national initiative funded by The BlackRock Foundation. Through a nearly $30 million investment, the program is expected to train more than 12,000 electricians over three years, helping strengthen the workforce needed to support Texas' continued growth and rising demand for energy, infrastructure, and data center development.

Funds managed by BlackRock will own an 80 percent interest in the venture, while Meta will retain the remaining 20 percent ownership. The parties have committed to fund their respective share of approximately $14 billion in total development costs for the buildings and long-lived power, cooling, and connectivity infrastructure. At financial close, Meta will contribute the venture land and construction-in-progress assets valued at approximately $2.3 billion, and BlackRock will make a cash contribution of approximately $4.9 billion. Meta will receive a one-time distribution of approximately $1 billion to align ownership stakes according to the 80/20 ownership split. A portion of BlackRock's investment will be funded with proceeds from a $12.5 billion debt financing.

Meta will enter into lease agreements with the venture for use of the entire data center campus. The leases have a four-year initial term with four options to extend, providing Meta with long-term flexibility over a potential 20-year term. Meta will also provide residual value guarantees with an aggregate threshold of approximately $13 billion that decreases over time. If certain conditions are met within the first 16 years of the lease term, Meta's maximum residual value guarantee payment would equal any shortfall between the fair value at that time and the threshold for the covered property.