MGX and BlackRock buy Aligned Data Centers in record deal
Money MovesA roughly $40 billion acquisition, the largest data-center deal on record, moves a major US and Latin American computing platform to investors focused on financing AI.
July 23rd, 2026: Deal closes; $5 billion pledged for expansionNew here? Follow stories to track developments over time. Create a free account to get updates when stories you care about change.
Overview
The biggest data-center deal ever recorded just closed. An investor group led by Abu Dhabi's MGX and BlackRock paid about $40 billion for Aligned Data Centers, a company that builds the buildings where artificial intelligence runs.
The buyers then pledged another $5 billion to expand it. The deal hands a major US and Latin American computing platform to investors whose stated purpose is financing AI. It shows how much money is now chasing the power and real estate that AI needs.
Why it matters
The AI tools people use every day run in physical buildings, and the world's largest investors are now buying that backbone at record prices.
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People Involved
Organizations Involved
An investor group formed to finance AI data centers and the power to run them.
An Abu Dhabi state-backed fund created to invest in artificial intelligence.
The world's largest asset manager, whose infrastructure arm co-led the deal.
A Texas-based operator of data centers for cloud and AI customers across the Americas.
The Australian asset manager whose infrastructure funds sold Aligned to the consortium.
Timeline
September 2024 July 2026
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Deal closes; $5 billion pledged for expansion
Latest ClosingThe group completes the purchase and commits an extra $5 billion to expand Aligned. Andrew Schaap and his team stay in charge.
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$40 billion Aligned deal announced
DealThe consortium agrees to buy 100% of Aligned Data Centers from Macquarie's funds. The price makes it the largest data-center acquisition on record.
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Nvidia and xAI join the partnership
ExpansionChipmaker Nvidia and Elon Musk's xAI join the AI Infrastructure Partnership, adding both a hardware supplier and a large computing customer.
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AI Infrastructure Partnership launches
FormationBlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners, Microsoft, and MGX create a group to finance AI data centers and power. It targets $30 billion in equity and up to $100 billion including debt.
Historical Context
3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.
Blackstone buys AirTrunk (2024)
Blackstone and its partners paid about $16.6 billion for AirTrunk, an Asia-Pacific data-center operator. It was the largest data-center deal on record at the time and marked Wall Street treating these sites as core infrastructure.
The deal set the benchmark price for a large data-center platform.
It pulled more institutional capital into data centers as a distinct asset class.
Aligned's roughly $40 billion price more than doubles that record in under two years, showing how fast valuations are climbing.
Fiber-optic telecom overbuild (1998-2001)
Companies like Global Crossing and WorldCom raised tens of billions to lay fiber-optic cable for internet traffic. Supply raced past demand. Global Crossing filed for bankruptcy in 2002, and much of the fiber sat unused as 'dark fiber.'
A glut of capacity collapsed prices and wiped out many early investors.
That cheap fiber later powered the broadband internet, but the first wave of backers lost their money.
It shows the risk when capital races ahead of real demand for a new technology's physical backbone.
Abu Dhabi's ATIC backs GlobalFoundries (2009)
Abu Dhabi's Advanced Technology Investment Company funded the spin-off of AMD's chip factories into GlobalFoundries. The emirate bet its wealth on owning strategic semiconductor manufacturing.
The move created a major US-based contract chipmaker.
Gulf sovereign wealth became a lasting owner of strategic US technology assets.
MGX extends that pattern from the chips themselves to the data centers those chips run in.
