The world's largest asset manager is tapping debt markets to fund AI infrastructure in El Paso, with implications rippling across crypto mining and digital asset markets.
BlackRock is preparing to sell more than $12 billion in bonds to finance a data center campus in El Paso, Texas. The offering represents one of the largest single debt deals tied to AI infrastructure this year, and it underscores just how aggressively institutional capital is flooding into the physical backbone of artificial intelligence.
The bond sale, first reported by Bloomberg, is part of a broader pattern of massive debt issuances fueling tech companies’ AI ambitions.
The deal and why Texas matters #
Texas has become ground zero for data center development, and the reasons are straightforward: abundant power, relatively cheap land, and ERCOT, the state’s independent electrical grid that operates outside federal oversight.
ERCOT’s structure gives data center operators more flexibility in negotiating power contracts, which is critical when you’re running facilities that consume electricity at industrial scale. That same grid dynamic is exactly why Texas has attracted a disproportionate share of Bitcoin mining operations over the past several years.
BlackRock’s data center push in Texas isn’t happening in isolation. Through its Global Infrastructure Partners division, BlackRock entered a consortium alongside the Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership and Abu Dhabi-backed MGX to acquire Aligned Data Centers, a Plano, Texas-based company, for approximately $40 billion. That deal is expected to close in the first half of 2026.
Aligned Data Centers itself has previously raised over $12 billion in combined equity and debt to expand its operations, which support a range of AI workloads.
Where crypto fits into the picture #
BlackRock is already one of the most influential players in crypto markets through its spot Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded products. Its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has become the dominant vehicle for institutional Bitcoin exposure since launching in January 2024. Now the firm is building out the physical infrastructure layer that supports the same digital asset ecosystem.
The trend extends beyond BlackRock. Hut 8, a publicly traded crypto mining company, raised $4.25 billion in senior secured notes for its Beacon Point AI data center campus. That deal illustrates how crypto-native companies are pivoting toward hybrid models that blend mining with AI compute services, tapping the same debt markets that traditional infrastructure players use.
What this means for investors #
First, investment-grade bonds and securitizations are becoming the preferred financing channel for AI and computing infrastructure. This matters because it institutionalizes the sector in a way that equity-only financing never could. Bond markets demand predictable cash flows and creditworthy counterparties, which means the projects being financed have to meet a higher bar of financial rigor.
Second, the competition for power resources in Texas is intensifying. ERCOT is currently adjusting its interconnection processes to accommodate a surge of new large-scale power consumers. For Bitcoin miners already operating on ERCOT, this could mean both opportunity and friction: opportunity because proximity to data center campuses can create power-sharing arrangements, and friction because AI tenants can often outbid miners for electricity contracts.
Third, the $40 billion Aligned Data Centers acquisition, if it closes as expected, would give BlackRock’s GIP division direct ownership of facilities that are already supporting crypto-adjacent high-performance computing.
BlackRock builds ETFs that hold Bitcoin. BlackRock finances data centers that power the networks behind Bitcoin. BlackRock acquires companies that serve crypto mining clients. Each step reinforces the others, creating an ecosystem where traditional finance and digital assets share the same infrastructure, the same capital markets, and increasingly, the same investment thesis.
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