BlackRock Leads Investor Group Buying Macquarie’s Aligned Data Centers in $40B Deal

An artificial intelligence investment group led by asset management titan BlackRock has agreed to buy US-based Aligned Data Centers at an enterprise value of $40 billion.

The transaction spearheaded by the AI Infrastructure Partnership is intended to fuel the expansion of next-generation cloud and AI infrastructure, according to a Wednesday announcement. AIP was co-founded last year by BlackRock, its Global Infrastructure Partners unit, Abu Dhabi’s MGX and tech giants Microsoft and Nvidia, with anchor investments by the Kuwait Investment Authority and Singapore state holding firm Temasek.

Aligned, which is owned by managed funds of Australia’s Macquarie Asset Management, has a portfolio of 50 data centre campuses and over 5 gigawatts of operational and planned capacity across the US and Latin America. The deal is being billed as the largest ever for data centres, dwarfing the $16.1 billion enterprise value of Asia Pacific platform AirTrunk upon its acquisition last year by private equity giant Blackstone and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

“This partnership is bringing together leading companies and mobilising private capital to accelerate AI innovation and drive global economic growth and productivity,” said Larry Fink, chairman and CEO of BlackRock and chairman of AIP. “With this investment in Aligned Data Centers, we further our goal of delivering the infrastructure necessary to power the future of AI, while offering our clients attractive opportunities to participate in its growth.”

Maiden Investment

Originally reported by Bloomberg earlier this month, the $40 billion deal is expected to close in the first half of 2026 after obtaining regulatory approvals.

The transaction is AIP’s first investment and marks a step towards an initial target of mobilising and deploying $30 billion in equity capital, with the potential of reaching $100 billion including debt, according to the announcement.

The investor group hailed Texas-based Aligned’s strong customer relationships, presence in key strategic digital hubs and proven management team, as well as its patented cooling systems to support high-density AI workloads, even in energy-constrained regions. The company is expected to remain headquartered in Dallas under the leadership of CEO Andrew Schaap.

“With AIP, MGX and GIP’s global reach, extensive resources and deep expertise across AI, energy and finance, we are poised to scale faster, innovate further and redefine what’s possible in sustainable data centre infrastructure,” Schaap said.

Rapid Growth

Macquarie Asset Management made its initial investment in Aligned in April 2018 through the Macquarie Infrastructure Partners IV fund and acquired an additional stake in July 2020 via Macquarie Infrastructure Partners V.

During Macquarie’s ownership, Aligned grew from two facilities in Dallas and Phoenix with 85 megawatts of operational capacity to over 5GW of operational and planned capacity, including assets under development, across 50 data centres in the US, Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Colombia.

“This transaction underscores Macquarie Asset Management’s ability to consistently identify key thematics early and find opportunities that create value for our clients and partners,” said Ben Way, head of Macquarie Asset Management. “The scaling of Aligned Data Centers from two locations to 50 in seven years is representative of our approach to working with great companies and teams to support their rapid growth and deliver positive impact.”

Aligned’s valuation of $8 million per megawatt of committed capacity compares with a $20 million figure for Sydney-based AirTrunk, whose portfolio includes 11 data centres in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore, plus land to support more than 1GW of future growth.