A consortium of heavyweight investors is acquiring Aligned Data Centers in a deal valued at approximately $40 billion, making it the largest transaction in digital infrastructure history. The group plans to invest $5 billion specifically to accelerate growth at the company, which operates over 50 data center campuses with more than 5 gigawatts of operational and planned power capacity.
The buyers: the Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership (AIP), Abu Dhabi’s MGX, and BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). They’re purchasing Aligned from Macquarie Asset Management, with the deal expected to close in the first half of 2026 pending regulatory approvals.
The deal behind the deal
Aligned Data Centers, founded in 2013 and headquartered in Dallas, isn’t your average server farm operator. The company specializes in adaptive data center designs with patented cooling technologies built specifically for high-density AI and hyperscale computing workloads.
AIP, which was formed in September 2024, has set a target of raising $30 billion in equity specifically for AI-centric infrastructure investments. Its members include Microsoft and NVIDIA.
