blackrock and microsoft to set up $30 billion investment fund for ai energy infrastructure construction
2024-09-19
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blackrock, one of the world's largest asset management groups, has teamed up with technology giant microsoft to launch a $30 billion ai (artificial intelligence) infrastructure fund.
on september 17, local time, microsoft, blackrock and other companies announced a partnership in ai investment, and will jointly invest in data centers and other ai-supporting infrastructure. this strategic partnership, called the global ai infrastructure investment partnership (gaiip), aims to become the world's largest ai investment fund, aiming to attract $30 billion in private equity investment, including debt financing, with a total investment potential of up to $100 billion in the future.
global infrastructure partners (gip), a private equity fund management company that is about to be acquired by blackrock, and mgx, an investment company backed by the abu dhabi government, are also partners in the fund. according to reports, gaiip will support open architecture and a broad ecosystem. infrastructure investments, including energy projects, will be mainly deployed in the united states, and part of the funds will be deployed in its partner countries.
the financial times pointed out that the investment tool aims to address the staggering demand for electricity and digital infrastructure required by ai products, which are expected to face serious capacity bottlenecks in the coming years. the electricity required for ai computing power far exceeds that of previous technological innovations and puts pressure on existing energy infrastructure.
on the 17th, microsoft (nasdaq: msft) stock price rose 0.24% to close at $435.15 per share, with a total market value of $3.23 trillion. blackrock (nyse: blk) rose 1.04% to close at $904.52 per share, with a total market value of $134 billion.
regarding this financing, microsoft chairman and ceo satya nadella said: "we are committed to ensuring that ai can drive innovation and growth in all sectors of the economy. gaiip will help us realize this vision. we will bring together financial and industry leaders to build the infrastructure of the future and power it in a sustainable way."
“mobilizing private capital to build ai infrastructure such as data centers and power will unlock trillions of dollars in long-term investment opportunities,” said larry fink, chairman and ceo of blackrock. “data centers are the cornerstone of the digital economy, and these investments will help drive economic growth, create jobs, and advance ai technology innovation.”
this cooperation shows that wall street still has great investment interest and confidence in the field of ai. in addition, ai chip leader nvidia will provide support to gaiip, including its expertise in ai data centers and ai factories, to jointly build an ai ecosystem.
“accelerated computing and generative ai are driving the growing demand for ai infrastructure for the next industrial revolution,” said jensen huang, ceo of nvidia. “nvidia will leverage its expertise as a full-stack computing platform to support gaiip and its portfolio companies in designing and integrating ai factories to drive industry innovation.”
the international energy agency previously predicted that global data center electricity consumption could exceed 1,000 terawatt-hours by 2026, more than double the amount used in 2022.
just a week ago, on september 12, local time, the white house announced that it would establish an ai data center infrastructure working group to coordinate policies across government departments. the working group will be led by the national economic council, the national security council, and the office of the white house deputy chief of staff. at the same time, the u.s. department of energy will create an ai data center engagement team to use various projects to support the development of ai data centers. on the 12th, a group of u.s. technology industry executives, including nvidia ceo huang renxun and openai ceo sam altman, came to the white house to meet with senior officials of the biden administration and other industry leaders.
hu hanyan, reporter of the paper
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