BlackRock, Microsoft, infrastructure investor Global Infrastructure Partners and Abu Dhabi-based AI development-focused company MGX announced today the launch of the Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership (GAIIP), a new AI-focused partnership aimed at investing in new and expanded data centers and new energy infrastructure to power the facilities.
The new partnership aims to raise $30 billion of private equity capital from investors, asset owners, and corporates, enabling the mobilization of up to $100 billion when including debt financing. GAIIP will focus its investments primarily in the U.S., with the companies stating that the partnership will “drive efficient scaling of data centers, with energy, power, and decarbonization investment capabilities for related enabling infrastructure for AI.”
The formation of the new partnership comes as the dramatic growth in the use of AI is driving a major increase in the demand for computing power, in turn driving a need for significant growth in energy sources to power data centers.
The significant growth in data centers and the energy required to power them, however, have created challenges to the decarbonization goals of large technology companies, including Microsoft, which recently reported that its Scope 3 emissions in 2023 were actually more than 30% higher than in 2020 – despite its goal to reduce Scope 3 in half by 2030 – driven largely by significant growth in data centers to meet increasing demand for AI computing power. Google and Amazon, have also highlighted increased AI-related energy as a key challenge to their decarbonization goals, and have ramped up clean energy purchases over the past several months in order to meet the growing demand.
Notably, the increased demand for clean energy to power data centers has also started to have a ripple effect on other sectors’ climate initiatives. For example, a Wyoming-based multi-megaton carbon capture facility planned by climate tech company CarbonCapture was recently cancelled, with the company citing rapidly growing competition for renewable energy in the state from data center operators.
Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella said:
“We are committed to ensuring AI helps advance innovation and drives growth across every sector of the economy. The Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership will help us deliver on this vision, as we bring together financial and industry leaders to build the infrastructure of the future and power it in a sustainable way.”
The new partnership also targets key areas identified recently by BlackRock as investment mega-trends, including infrastructure and energy transition. The investment giant announced an agreement this year to acquire GIP, noting at the time that “infrastructure is forecast to be one of the fastest growing segments of private markets in the years ahead,” and citing key drivers including increasing global demand for upgraded digital infrastructure, supply chain rewiring, and decarbonization and energy security trends around the world.
BlackRock Chairman and CEO Larry Fink said:
“Mobilizing private capital to build AI infrastructure like data centers and power will unlock a multi-trillion-dollar long-term investment opportunity. Data centers are the bedrock of the digital economy, and these investments will help power economic growth, create jobs, and drive AI technology innovation.”
