Brad Smith Vice Chair and President at Microsoft | Official website
NEW YORK, REDMOND, WA, AND ABU DHABI — September 17, 2024 – The drive to develop more powerful AI capabilities will require significant infrastructure investment. Today, BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), Microsoft, and MGX announced the Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership (GAIIP) to invest in new and expanded data centers to meet growing demand for computing power and energy infrastructure. These investments will be primarily in the United States and partner countries.
This partnership aims to support an open architecture and broad ecosystem, providing full access on a non-exclusive basis for various partners and companies. NVIDIA will support GAIIP with its expertise in AI data centers and AI factories. GAIIP plans to engage with industry leaders to enhance AI supply chains and energy sourcing. The partnership seeks to unlock $30 billion of private equity capital over time from investors, asset owners, and corporates, potentially mobilizing up to $100 billion when including debt financing.
The founders of the partnership include leading global investors BlackRock, GIP, MGX—an artificial intelligence and advanced technology investor—and Microsoft. GAIIP combines expertise in infrastructure and technology to scale data centers efficiently while investing in energy, power, and decarbonization for related enabling infrastructure.
His Highness Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of MGX, stated: “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.”
“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.”
“We are committed to ensuring AI helps advance innovation,” said Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft. “The Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership will help us deliver on this vision.”
“The capital spending needed for AI infrastructure goes beyond what any single company or government can finance,” said Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President of Microsoft.
“Building necessary infrastructure required to advance AI will reshape almost every aspect of how we live,” said Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi, CEO of MGX.
“There is a clear need to mobilize significant amounts of private capital for essential infrastructure investments,” said Bayo Ogunlesi, Chairman and CEO of Global Infrastructure Partners.
“Accelerated computing and generative AI are driving a growing need for AI infrastructure,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA.
MGX was created in Abu Dhabi earlier this year to invest in AI technologies globally. Today's announcement builds on Abu Dhabi's investment track record in data centers.
Significant structural forces are creating opportunities for private capital partnerships with corporations and governments for critical infrastructure needs. BlackRock has extensive corporate relationships as a long-term investor in their debt and equity while GIP specializes in large-scale infrastructure assets globally.
