BlackRock, Nvidia, xAI, and Microsoft formed a consortium to acquire data center giant Aligned for $40 billion.

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The artificial intelligence infrastructure investment consortium led by BlackRock has reached one of the largest deals in the data center industry.

On Wednesday local time, the investment fund AIP, jointly established by BlackRock, Nvidia, and Microsoft, announced that the alliance has reached a $40 billion deal to acquire data center giant Aligned from Macquarie Asset Management, making it one of the largest data center deals in history.

All parties stated that the deal is expected to be completed in the first half of 2026, pending regulatory approval. The buyers include an investment consortium led by BlackRock, AIP, and Abu Dhabi funds MGX, as well as Nvidia, Microsoft, and xAI.

First Move by BlackRock AI Alliance Sets Industry Record Deal Size

Headquartered in Dallas, Aligned provides infrastructure services for cloud computing and AI companies. The company currently operates or is developing about 50 campuses in the Americas, with a total operational and planned capacity of 5 gigawatts. AIP plans to rapidly expand Aligned’s scale in the coming years, more than doubling its number of core campuses.

This $40 billion deal ranks among the top in the history of mergers and acquisitions in the data center industry, reflecting strong market demand for AI infrastructure assets.

AIP, which stands for Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership, was jointly founded by BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners, Abu Dhabi's MGX, Microsoft, and Nvidia, aiming to expand AI infrastructure capacity and help shape the future of AI-driven economic growth.

MGX CEO Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi said, "We firmly believe that from the perspective of cloud computing and AI, there is enormous demand for global capacity building. We're talking about a scale of roughly 20 gigawatts globally each year, with about half of that in the United States."

The alliance aims to raise up to $100 billion in funds for the expansion of data centers and energy infrastructure to support AI growth. This acquisition of Aligned is the alliance's first investment since its founding, setting the direction for its subsequent capital deployment.

Macquarie first invested in Aligned in 2018 and increased its stake in 2020. Macquarie stated that during its holding period, Aligned developed from two sites into a platform spanning the entire continent.

This exit deal brought significant returns for Macquarie and also reflected the revaluation of data center assets driven by the AI boom.

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