Meta and BlackRock’s $14B Texas data center is too big for most insurers to handle

When a single infrastructure project costs more than the GDP of a small country, the usual rules start to break down. Meta and BlackRock’s joint venture to build a $14 billion AI data center campus in El Paso, Texas is running into exactly that problem: the project is so large that conventional insurance markets can only cover part of it. The campus, spanning roughly 1,000 acres and targeting 1 gigawatt of computing capacity, was already under construction for more than six months before the partnership was formally announced on July 28, 2026. It is projected to come online in 2028. How the deal is structured The ownership split gives BlackRock funds an 80% stake, with Meta holding the remaining 20% and serving as the sole initial tenant by leasing capacity back from the joint venture. Meta’s contribution to the deal includes land and construction already in progress, valued at roughly $2.3 billion, plus a distribution of approximately $1 billion to align the two parties’ ownership stakes. BlackRock is putting in around $4.9 billion in cash, with a $12.5 billion debt financing package underpinning the broader project budget. Meta has also provided a residual value guarantee thresho...