21:56 - 28.07.2026

---

July 28, Fineko/abc.az. Meta Platforms and BlackRock are establishing a joint venture to build and operate a 1-gigawatt data center campus in Texas.

According to a statement from Meta, the development cost of the El Paso campus is estimated at approximately $14 billion. The facility is expected to become operational in 2028, with Meta acting as the sole tenant during the initial phase. Funds managed by BlackRock will hold an 80% stake in the venture, while Meta will retain the remaining 20%.

Meta will initially contribute land and infrastructure assets valued at $2.3 billion to the project and receive a one-time cash payment of $1 billion. BlackRock will provide around $4.9 billion in cash, supported in part by $12.5 billion in debt financing.

The El Paso development forms part of the "Meta Compute" initiative, designed to scale the social media giant’s artificial intelligence infrastructure and compute capabilities. Meta will sign an initial four-year lease agreement with options for extension.

Earlier this year, driven by aggressive AI infrastructure development and rising hardware component costs, Meta raised its full-year capital expenditure forecast from $125 billion to $145 billion.