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Microsoft Joins Investment Giants in Throwing Billions at AI Datacenters
Heavyweights of industry and investment have created a a new multibillion-dollar investment fund to support the growing infrastructure demands of today's AI technologies.
Finance giants BlackRock and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), Abu Dhabi-based AI investment startup MGX and Microsoft announced the Global Al Infrastructure Investment Partnership (GAIIP) on Tuesday.
GAIIP will invest in building new datacenters to accommodate the massive compute power that modern AI workloads demand, as well as the energy infrastructure to power them. It aims to build a "broad ecosystem" of non-exclusive partnerships and an "open architecture" for energy-efficient datacenters.
It's also one of the largest AI infrastructure funding efforts to date. "The partnership will initially seek to unlock $30 billion of private equity capital over time from investors, asset owners, corporates, which in turn will mobilize up to $100 billion in total investment potential when including debt financing," the companies said.
Nvidia, the current leading AI chipmaker, is also a a supporter, and will provide technical expertise and factory space.
"Accelerated computing and generative Al are driving a growing need for Al infrastructure for the next industrial revolution," said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in explaining his company's involvement.
GAIIP will primarily target its investments to support U.S.-based datacenter buildouts, as well as similar projects in partner countries. Increasingly, the U.S. government has been championing homegrown production of AI-optimized hardware, putting significant money into the effort.
"Data centers are the bedrock of the digital economy, and these investments will help power economic growth, create jobs, and drive Al technology innovation," said BlackRock CEO Larry Fink.
The fund's U.S. focus will "enhance national competitiveness, security, and economic prosperity," added Microsoft President Brad Smith.
Microsoft has committed many billions of dollars this year so far to expanding its datacenter footprint, both in the United States and abroad. With user demand for its Copilot AI solutions on the rise, Microsoft has sought outside support to buttress its existing infrastructure, including Lumen for its datacenter networking expertise and Oracle for its cloud capacity.
Smith noted, "The capital spending needed for Al infrastructure and the new energy to power it goes beyond what any single company or government can finance."