$100 billion investment potential will enhance American competitiveness in artificial intelligence (AI) while meeting the growing need for energy infrastructure to power economic growth
The drive to develop more powerful AI capabilities will require significant infrastructure investment to support it. BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), Microsoft, and MGX announced on Sept. 17 the Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership (GAIIP) to make investments in new and expanded data centers to meet growing demand for computing power, as well as energy infrastructure to create new sources of power for these facilities. These infrastructure investments will be chiefly in the U.S. fueling AI innovation and economic growth, and the remainder will be invested in U.S. partner countries.
This partnership will support an open architecture and broad ecosystem, providing full access on a non-exclusive basis for a diverse range of partners and companies. NVIDIA will support GAIIP, offering its expertise in AI data centers and AI factories to benefit the AI ecosystem. GAIIP will also actively engage with industry leaders to help enhance AI supply chains and energy sourcing for the benefit of its customers and the industry. The partnership will initially seek to unlock $30 billion of private equity capital over time from investors, asset owners, and corporates, which in turn will mobilize up to $100 billion in total investment potential when including debt financing.
Want to learn more about AI and data centers, and how they are affecting the power industry? Register now to be part of Experience POWER Week, which includes Electric Power Insights, the Distributed Energy Conference, and HydrogeNext. The event will be held Oct. 9-11, 2024, in Orlando, Florida.
The founders of the partnership bring together leading global investors BlackRock, GIP, and MGX, an artificial intelligence and advanced technology investor, with funding as well as expertise from Microsoft. GAIIP combines deep understanding of infrastructure and technology to drive efficient scaling of data centers, with energy, power, and decarbonization investment capabilities for related enabling infrastructure for AI.
His Highness Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, chairman of MGX, emphasized the importance of AI for the future of our economies: “Artificial intelligence is not just an industry of the future, it underpins the future. Through this unique partnership, we will enable faster innovation, technological breakthroughs and transformational productivity gains across the global economy. The investments we make today will secure a more sustainable, prosperous, and equitable future for all mankind.”
“Mobilizing private capital to build AI infrastructure like data centers and power will unlock a multi-trillion-dollar long-term investment opportunity,” said Larry Fink, chairman and CEO of BlackRock. “Data centers are the bedrock of the digital economy, and these investments will help power economic growth, create jobs, and drive AI technology innovation.”
“We are committed to ensuring AI helps advance innovation and drives growth across every sector of the economy,” said Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO of Microsoft. “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 capital spending needed for AI infrastructure and the new energy to power it goes beyond what any single company or government can finance,” said Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft. “This financial partnership will not only help advance technology, but enhance national competitiveness, security, and economic prosperity.”
“Building the necessary infrastructure required to advance and accelerate the adoption of AI will reshape and revitalize almost every aspect of how we live,” said Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi, CEO of MGX. “Similar to our transportation infrastructure, new data centers and power sources will enable growth and commerce in the future innovation economy.”
“There is a clear need to mobilize significant amounts of private capital to fund investments in essential infrastructure. One manifestation of this is the capital required to support the development of AI,” said Bayo Ogunlesi, chairman and CEO of Global Infrastructure Partners. “We are highly confident that the combined capabilities of our partnership will help accelerate the pace of investments in AI-related infrastructure.”
“Accelerated computing and generative AI are driving a growing need for AI infrastructure for the next industrial revolution,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “NVIDIA will use its expertise as a full stack computing platform to support GAIIP and its portfolio companies on the design and integration of AI factories to propel industry innovation.”
MGX was created in Abu Dhabi earlier this year to invest in AI and advanced technologies with global partners to enable the technology fabric of the global economy, focusing on AI infrastructure; AI-enabled technology; and semiconductors. Today’s announcement is a major partnership within those segments, building on the emirate’s longstanding investment track record in data centers, compute capacity, and enabling infrastructure.
Significant structural forces are creating opportunities for private capital to partner with corporations and governments to provide financing for critical infrastructure needs. BlackRock has a broad network of corporate relationships as a long-term investor in their debt and equity, and GIP specializes in investing in, owning, and operating some of the largest and most complex infrastructure assets in the world. These combined capabilities position BlackRock as a world leading investment platform to make these critical investments in data centers and related infrastructure, mobilizing private capital to support economic growth and job creation while generating long-term investment benefits for its clients.
—POWER edited this content, which was contributed by Microsoft’s media relations department.