MGX-led consortium completes $40 billion Aligned buyout
AIP closes largest-ever data centre deal, adds $5B to fund US expansion
#UAE #M&A - MGX, together with the newly formed Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership (AIP) and BlackRock’s infrastructure investment arm Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), have completed the acquisition of 100% of Dallas-based data centre developer Aligned Data Centers from funds managed by Macquarie Asset Management. The deal values Aligned at roughly $40 billion, making it one of the largest private digital infrastructure investments to date. Aligned operates 51 campuses and more than 6.4GW of capacity across the US and Latin America. The consortium has also committed a further $5 billion in growth capital to expand Aligned’s AI-ready capacity.
SO WHAT? - This is AIP’s first investment since launching in 2024, and it’s a big marker for how much capital global investors think AI infrastructure needs over the next decade. A $40 billion price tag for one data centre operator shows the numbers involved in building out compute capacity. For MGX, it deepens Abu Dhabi’s direct stake in the physical backbone of US AI development, at a time when access to power, cooling and land for data centres has become as competitive as access to chips. The investment also aligns with the US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership signed during President Trump’s visit to the UAE last year. Under the agreement, for every dollar of investment that the UAE makes in building out data centres in the Middle East, it will invest a dollar in AI infrastructure in the United States.
KEY POINTS:
MGX, Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership (AIP) and BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) have completed the acquisition of 100% of Aligned Data Centers from Macquarie Asset Management and its co-investors, at an enterprise value of approximately $40 billion.
Aligned Data Centers operates 51 campuses and more than 6.4GW of operational and planned capacity, with assets in Northern Virginia, Chicago, Dallas, Ohio, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, São Paulo, Querétaro and Santiago.
The consortium has committed an additional $5 billion in growth capital on top of the acquisition price, to fund Aligned’s continued expansion and scale-up of AI-ready capacity.
Aligned CEO Andrew Schaap and the existing management team will continue running the company, which stays headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
The deal is AIP’s first investment. The partnership aims to mobilise $30 billion of equity capital, with potential to support up to $100 billion of total investment including debt.
Aligned is known for patented cooling technology that cuts water use and improves energy efficiency at its data centres.
The new ownership group says it will keep investing in local jobs, workforce development, site revitalisation and grid resilience in the communities where Aligned operates.
The transaction combines MGX and AIP’s focus on next-generation AI infrastructure with GIP’s experience owning and operating large-scale infrastructure assets.
ZOOM OUT - MGX's involvement in AIP goes back to the partnership's launch in September 2024, when BlackRock, GIP, Microsoft and MGX formed what was then called the ‘Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership’. Targeting up to $100 billion for data centres and energy infrastructure, the partnership expanded to include AI leaders NVIDIA and xAI in 2025. The Abu Dhabi investment firm was already tied to several of the founding members: it had joined a GIP-led bid for Australian data centre operator AirTrunk months earlier, and Microsoft had invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi's G42, which has two members on the MGX board. GIP itself had a track record in the UAE too, having worked on deals with ADNOC, ADIA and Mubadala.
[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]
Source: MGX
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