AI’s hungry maw drives massive $100B investment plan by Microsoft and BlackRock

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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.

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.