The drive to develop more powerful AI capabilities will require significant infrastructure investment to support it. BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), Microsoft, and MGX have announced 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 United States fuelling 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, corporates, which in turn will mobilize up to $100 billion in total investment potential when including debt financing.
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, emphasised 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.”
Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft emphasized the company’s commitment 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,” he added.
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.
