A consortium led by asset manager BlackRock, including chip giant Nvidia and Microsoft is set to acquire data centre specialist Aligned Data Centres from Australian financial services group Macquarie for approximately US$40 billion ($69.9b).

The deal marks another sign of the tech sector’s insatiable appetite for AI infrastructure, including chips, servers, and data centres that provide the computing storage and processing power required by artificial intelligence.

And it comes on the heels of Macquarie’s A$23b deal to seel Australian and Asia Pacific data centre operator AirTrunk to Blackstone for A$23.5b and the rise and rise in valuation of Canberra Data Centres, half-owned by NZX-listed Infratil. On October 7, Infratil said the latest 2025 independent valuation of CDC showed an increase of A$77 million since June 30 to A$13.6b, making its 49.72% stake worth a new high of A$6.8b.

Founded in 2013, Aligned currently operates more than 50 data centres across the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia, with a projected capacity exceeding 5 gigawatts.

Macquarie initially acquired a stake in the Texas-based company in 2018 through its subsidiary Macquarie Asset Management and subsequently increased its investment in 2020.

The acquiring consortium consists of BlackRock, Emirati sovereign tech fund MGX, and the Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership (AIP), a joint venture established by BlackRock in 2024 that includes BlackRock, MGX, Nvidia, and Microsoft.

AIP plans to raise US$30b in direct investments and leverage debt to achieve a total investment capacity of US$100b.

The partners have not disclosed how equity will be distributed among Aligned’s new shareholders following the transaction’s completion, expected in the first half of 2026.

“We are entering a new era in which AI will fundamentally reengineer our economies and enable accelerated growth,” said Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi, CEO of MGX and Vice Chairman of AIP, in a press release.

BlackRock CEO and AIP Chairman Larry Fink said the acquisition enabled its clients to participate in the growth of AI.

-Agence France-Presse with Herald staff