A consortium consisting of the Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership (AIP), MGX, and BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) has agreed to acquire Aligned Data Centers for an enterprise value of around $40bn.

The deal will help increase the scale of next-generation cloud and AI infrastructure.

Aligned’s current owners Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) and its co-investment partners will sell their entire equity stake.

In an interview with Reuters, MAM head Ben Way said the sale “was not a warning sign for the sector or AI”.

Way was quoted by the news agency as saying: “We don’t own businesses in perpetuity, we have owned this for seven years and it’s at a great spot to exit and there’s clearly massive demand to exit.”

The acquisition is AIP’s first investment as it pursues its goal to deploy $30bn in equity capital, with a longer-term target that could reach $100bn when including debt.

Aligned Data Centers operates hyperscale and enterprise data centres and currently manages a portfolio of 50 campuses and over 5GW of operational and planned capacity.

Its facilities are located in major digital gateway regions in the US and Latin America, including Chicago, Dallas, Northern Virginia, Ohio, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Santiago, Sao Paulo and Queretaro.

Aligned will continue to be led by CEO Andrew Schaap and its current executive team from its Dallas headquarters following acquisition.

Schaap said: “Partnering with the consortium will accelerate our mission to deliver the infrastructure powering tomorrow’s digital economy.

“With AIP, MGX, and GIP’s global reach, extensive resources, and deep expertise across AI, energy, and finance, we are poised to scale faster, innovate further, and redefine what’s possible in sustainable data centre infrastructure.”

Since Macquarie Asset Management’s initial investment in 2018 via Macquarie Infrastructure Partners IV, and an increased stake through Macquarie Infrastructure Partners V in 2020, Aligned has expanded from two facilities with 85MW of capacity to its current scale.

The company introduced both green securitisation and sustainability-linked financing models to the data centre sector during this period.

The acquisition is intended to provide Aligned with capital and resources required to expand its presence and meet demand for high-density, scalable compute infrastructure.

The consortium’s investment brings operational experience across AI infrastructure deployment and management.

AIP chairman and BlackRock chairman and CEO Larry Fink said: “AIP is positioned to meet the growing demand for the infrastructure required as AI continues to reshape the global economy.

“This partnership is bringing together leading companies and mobilising private capital to accelerate AI innovation and drive global economic growth and productivity.”

Subject to regulatory clearance and standard closing requirements, the deal is expected to be completed in the first half of 2026.

AIP was established by BlackRock, GIP, MGX, Microsoft, and Nvidia, with the objective of scaling AI infrastructure capacity. The partnership’s primary financial backers include the Kuwait Investment Authority and Temasek.