Microsoft, BlackRock form GAIIP to invest in AI data centers, energy

Microsoft and Black Rock The company is part of a group of companies collaborating to invest up to $100 billion in developing data centers for artificial intelligence and the energy infrastructure to run them.

These companies are part of the Global Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Investment Partnership (GAIIP), Announced The announcement was made in a press release on Tuesday. Other participants are Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), an infrastructure investment firm that is being acquired by BlackRock, and MGX, a tech investment firm based in the United Arab Emirates.

“We are committed to ensuring that AI can help drive innovation and foster growth in all sectors of the economy,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement. He said the effort is “bringing together leaders in finance and industry to build the infrastructure of the future and power it in a sustainable way.”

The group is seeking to raise $30 billion in capital initially, with a goal of raising up to $100 billion in future, including through debt financing.

Technology companies are NVIDIA These are graphics processing units (GPUs) capable of running generative AI models, such as those that power OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot. Serious PowerThe surge in demand has created a bottleneck in setting up new facilities.

Microsoft’s investment comes on top of capital expenditures needed to expand its Azure public cloud infrastructure, which serves OpenAI and other AI customers. Microsoft said in July that its fourth-quarter capital expenditures, including assets acquired through finance leases, totaled $19 billion.

Black Rock in January Announced BlackRock intends to acquire GIP for $3 billion in cash and approximately 12 million shares of BlackRock common stock. said The company announced last week that the transaction is expected to close on October 1st.

MGX is Release Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala and AI company G42 joined as founding partners in March.