Meta and BlackRock strike a $10B+ plan for an El Paso data-center campus to back AI capacity

Meta is partnering with BlackRock to finance, develop, and operate a new data-center campus in El Paso, Texas, aiming to accelerate the infrastructure needed for its artificial intelligence roadmap. Meta said the venture will be structured so that Meta is the initial sole occupant of the campus when it is completed, and it expects the capacity to begin coming online in 2028.

The partners said the project is already under construction and is designed to deliver 1 gigawatt of compute capacity, which Meta described as essential to bringing its AI technologies to life and supporting both faster AI model progress and enhancements to its core services. Meta will provide construction management, administrative, and property management services for the campus, according to the announcement.

Meta said the El Paso facility represents an investment of more than $10 billion from Meta, supporting more than 4,000 construction jobs at peak and about 300 operational jobs once the campus is complete. The company also said more than 2,300 workers are already onsite.

Under the ownership and funding structure described by Meta and BlackRock, BlackRock funds will own 80% of the venture and Meta will retain 20% ownership. The partners committed to fund their pro rata shares of roughly $14 billion in total development costs for the long-lived power, cooling, and connectivity infrastructure and the buildings at the campus.

Meta said that at financial close it will contribute land and construction-in-progress assets valued at approximately $2.3 billion, while BlackRock will provide a cash contribution of approximately $4.9 billion. Meta will also receive a one-time distribution of about $1 billion to align ownership stakes with the 80/20 split. The companies added that a portion of BlackRock’s investment will be funded with proceeds from $12.5 billion of debt financing.

To secure long-term use of the capacity, Meta will enter into lease agreements with the venture covering the entire campus. The leases are set with a four-year initial term plus four options to extend. Meta will also provide residual value guarantees, with an aggregate threshold of approximately $13 billion that decreases over time, and a described mechanism for potential maximum payments if specific conditions are met during the first 16 years.

The announcement also tied the project to workforce and community programming. Meta said the site is part of America’s Workforce Academy, a free trades training program that guarantees a job upon graduation with a Meta partner at one of its data-center sites. Meta also said it provided a $500,000 grant to El Paso public schools for workforce development and STEM and skilled-trades pathways, and it will continue partnering with local nonprofits on water restoration projects.

On the financing side, BlackRock said it is supporting workforce development in Texas through Future Builders, an initiative funded by The BlackRock Foundation. It described a nearly $30 million investment intended to train more than 12,000 electricians over three years, which it linked to workforce needs created by rising demand for energy, infrastructure, and data-center development.

Still, key commercial details remain outside the public summary. While Meta described the lease structure and the scale of development costs and ownership splits, it did not disclose the expected economics for each party, the specific capacity ramp schedule by data hall or phase, or the terms that would govern how quickly Meta’s demand for compute translates into additional commitments beyond the initial campus plan. The partners said the transaction is expected to close in the coming days, and that the venture expects to begin bringing capacity online in 2028, but they did not provide further timing for later expansion.

The deal underscores how major AI infrastructure buildouts are increasingly blending operating expertise with long-term capital from specialized investment managers. For Meta, the partnership is designed to give it “speed and flexibility” in scaling its Meta Compute strategy, while for BlackRock it positions its infrastructure and private financing platform at the center of energy-intensive, mission-critical data-center demand. What to watch next is whether additional capacity phases or similar partnerships follow, and whether details of the lease economics and residual value guarantees emerge as the transaction moves toward closing and financing implementation.