Microsoft and BlackRock are part of a group of companies collaborating to pull together up to $100 billion to develop data centers for artificial intelligence and the energy infrastructure to power them.
The companies are part of the Global Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Investment Partnership, or GAIIP, which was announced in a press release on Tuesday. The other participants are Global Infrastructure Partners, or GIP, an infrastructure investor that is being acquired by BlackRock, and MGX, a tech investor in the United Arab Emirates.
“We are committed to ensuring AI helps advance innovation and drives growth across every sector of the economy,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, in a statement. He said the initiative brings “together financial and industry leaders to build the infrastructure of the future and power it in a sustainable way.”
The group aims to assemble $30 billion of initial capital, with a future goal of bringing in up to $100 billion, including from debt financing.
Tech companies have been racing to build data centers full of Nvidia
graphics processing units, or GPUs, that can run generative AI models such as those enabling OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot. Those GPUs consume serious power, and soaring demand has created a bottleneck for standing up new facilities.
Microsoft’s investment comes on top of the capital expenditures needed to support infrastructure expansion for its Azure public cloud, which supplies OpenAI and other AI customers. Microsoft said in July that fiscal fourth-quarter capital spending, including assets acquired under finance leases, totaled $19 billion.
In January, BlackRock announced its intent to acquire GIP for $3 billion in cash and around 12 million shares of BlackRock common stock. BlackRock said last week that it expects the deal to close Oct. 1.
MGX was launched in March, with Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala and AI firm G42 as founding partners.
正如我们去年大部分时间所写的那样，下一个人工智能交易看起来仍然是能源。现在，贝莱德（BlackRock）和微软公司（Microsoft）都表明他们也理解这一点。
据英国《金融时报》报道，昨天有报道称，这两家行业巨头正在准备启动一项300亿美元的人工智能投资基金，该基金将帮助微软建立数据中心和能源项目，以满足人工智能的需求。
BlackRock新的基础设施投资部门Global infrastructure Partners正在推出一项大型投资基金，微软和阿布扎比的MGX作为普通合伙人。英伟达将为工厂设计和集成提供咨询。
英国《金融时报》写道，这一合作旨在解决人工智能发展的巨大电力和基础设施需求，预计这将给当前的能源系统带来压力。人工智能的计算需求远远超过了过去的技术。该合伙企业寻求筹集高达300亿美元的股权，并计划再利用700亿美元的债务。
Larry Fink在一份声明中表示：“动员私人资本建设数据中心和电力等人工智能基础设施将释放数万亿美元的长期投资机会。”
微软总裁Brad Smith补充道：“国家和世界将需要更多的资本投资，以加快所需人工智能基础设施的发展。这种努力是重要的一步。”
英伟达的黄仁勋补充道：“加速计算和生成人工智能正在推动下一次工业革命对人工智能基础设施的需求不断增长。”
即将成立的基金是一家主要资产管理公司为满足生成人工智能和云计算日益增长的能源需求而设立的最新基金。英国《金融时报》总结称，今年早些时候，微软与布鲁克菲尔德资产管理公司（Brookfield Asset Management）承诺向可再生能源项目投资100亿美元，目标是到2030年实现100%的零碳能源。
国际能源署预测，到2026年，数据中心的全球用电量可能超过1000太瓦时，是2022年水平的两倍多。
在拥有全球三分之一数据中心的美国，电力需求20年来首次激增。电网战略公司的一份报告显示，美国五年电力需求预测几乎翻了一番，从2.6%上升到4.7%。
对于那些错过它的人，在今年4月的“下一次人工智能交易”报告中，我们概述了为美国提供动力的各种投资机会，其中大多数投资机会的表现明显优于市场。
我们最喜欢的名字是Sam Altman支持的Oklo，我们强调它是人工智能带来的能源极端需求的潜在解决方案。它利用液态金属反应堆技术，在即将普及的小型模块化反应堆中建造15兆瓦至50兆瓦的核电站。