Meta Appoints Lead for New $14 Billion El Paso Venture
The company partners with BlackRock to build a one-gigawatt data center campus in West Texas.
Updated on Oct. 21, 2026 in Data Centers
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Meta appointed former board member Dina Powell McCormick to a management role on January 12, 2026, to lead capital partnerships for data center expansion. This shift includes a joint venture with BlackRock-managed funds to construct a one-gigawatt computing facility in El Paso.
Why it matters
The venture allows Meta to leverage external capital to manage massive infrastructure costs, supporting companywide capital expenditure projections that range from $130 billion to $145 billion for 2026.
The El Paso campus is slated for one gigawatt of computing capacity. BlackRock-managed funds hold an 80% stake in the venture, while Meta retains a 20% interest.
The players
Meta
A global technology firm focused on AI and compute-intensive infrastructure.
Dina Powell McCormick
A corporate executive tasked with securing strategic capital partnerships for infrastructure.
BlackRock
An investment management firm managing funds that hold an 80% stake in the El Paso project.
The details
The project utilizes a joint venture structure to offload infrastructure development costs from Meta's balance sheet while securing necessary scaling capacity. Dina Powell McCormick works with sovereign and strategic capital partners to secure the long-term funding required for high-density computing sites. This mechanism allows Meta to maintain its aggressive 2026 capital spending targets by sharing the financial risk of physical data center construction with institutional investors.
Timeline
April 2025: Dina Powell McCormick joins Meta's board.
December 2025: Dina Powell McCormick leaves the board.
January 12, 2026: Powell McCormick appointed to her current management role.
June 30, 2026: End of fiscal quarter for capital expenditure reporting.
The Tech Race
This partnership marks a shift in how hyperscalers fund massive data center builds by offloading capital-intensive construction to institutional partners. It follows the trajectory of Meta's $130 billion to $145 billion 2026 expenditure target, which necessitates new financing models.
The development represents a multi-year commitment to El Paso's industrial utility capacity. Local economic observers should track the progress of the one-gigawatt facility as it progresses toward its $14 billion construction milestone.
The takeaway
Meta is shifting toward shared-equity models to fund the massive physical infrastructure required for modern computing. Readers should track upcoming fiscal updates for milestones related to the $14 billion El Paso campus construction schedule.
Further reading
For more on the infrastructure supporting current AI scaling, visit our Data Centers section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by TokenPost.
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