Microsoft, BlackRock, and UAE Firm Launch Massive AI Infrastructure Fund

$100 billion AI infrastructure fund launched by Microsoft, BlackRock, UAE firm

Investment "goes beyond what any single company or government can finance." If you haven't noticed by now, Big Tech companies have been making plans to invest in the infrastructure necessary to deliver generative AI products like ChatGPT (and beyond) to hundreds of millions of people around the world. That push involves building more AI-accelerating chips, more data centers, and even new nuclear plants to power those data centers, in some cases. Further Reading Along those lines, Microsoft, BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), and MGX announced a massive new AI investment partnership on Tuesday called the Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership (GAIIP). The partnership initially aims to raise $30 billion in private equity capital, which could later turn into $100 billion in total investment when including debt financing. The group will invest in data centers and supporting power infrastructure for AI development. "The capital spending needed for AI infrastructure and the new energy to power it goes beyond what any single company or government can finance," Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a statement. Microsoft's venture partners are notable for their deep pockets. BlackRock manages trillions in assets globally, and MGX, formed earlier this year, represents Abu Dhabi's strategic push into AI investments, backed by substantial sovereign wealth from the United Arab Emirates. The new fund plans to invest mostly in the US, with some money going to partner countries. Nvidia will help out by sharing what it knows about building AI data centers, but Microsoft says it will support "an open architecture and broad ecosystem" that will provide infrastructure access to many companies using vendor-neutral standards. An unyielding thirst for compute The project comes at a time when demand for AI computing power (often called "compute" in the industry) has been growing rapidly, along with criticism about its power use. Training large language models and running inferences on them requires significant computational resources, which in turn demands more energy. Microsoft already powers OpenAI's ChatGPT with its Azure servers and has been upgrading its own data centers to handle increased demand. Further Reading Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, shared a statement on what he sees as the economic potential of the venture. "Data centers are the bedrock of the digital economy, and these investments will help power economic growth, create jobs, and drive AI technology innovation," he said. While GAIIP's focus will primarily center on hardware and energy infrastructure, ripple effects from the initiative could be profound. Improved AI infrastructure may lead to faster development of next-generation AI models (such as the highly anticipated "GPT-5" -- among AI enthusiasts anyway), speed up existing compute-hungry models (like OpenAI's new o1), and spark the development of new neural-network-based applications across different industries. However, such massive investment in AI infrastructure will also likely raise eyebrows about environmental impact because some critics believe AI is not worth the cost. There may be solutions down the road; a few AI data centers use 100 percent renewable energy for power and cooling, but those are still in the minority. In the meantime, nuclear power may bridge the gap, and Microsoft is trying to make it happen.

Microsoft and Blackrock team up on $30 billion AI investment

New investments will build data centers and energy projects to help keep up with increasing demand A partnership has been announced between Microsoft and BlackRock in the form of an infrastructure investment unit, the Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership (GAIIP). Artificial intelligence has dominated tech spaces in the last few years, and the rapid rate of investments illustrate the confidence tech firms have in the technologies. The project will aim to 'enhance American competitiveness' by building on US soil. The $30 billion fund is likely to be used to develop infrastructure to help meet the demands of AI, such as data centers and energy projects to create new sources of power for their facilities. This is a crucial consideration when developing AI models, as the tech uses an enormous amount of power and energy to run, as well as increasing emissions by as much as 50% for some firms - leaving the industry with a serious task to mitigate its consumption. The energy sector has been singled out by BlackRock as one of the leading opportunities for growth. With the initial $30 billion investment, the partnership hopes to eventually mobilize up to $100 billion in total investment capital when including debt financing. Chief Executive Larry Fink explained, "Mobilising private capital to build AI infrastructure like data centres and power will unlock a multitrillion-dollar long-term investment opportunity," he said. "Data centers are the bedrock of the digital economy, and these investments will help power economic growth, create jobs, and drive AI technology innovation." Computing requirements for AI have led to a substantial investment into specialized data centers, so much so that the UK government declared them part of its 'critical infrastructure', giving them advanced protections over other tech projects.