Meta Lines Up $13B for Texas AI Data Centre With Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan
Synopsis
Meta Platforms is working with Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase on a roughly $13 billion financing package, mostly debt, for its planned AI data centre in El Paso, Texas. Meta boosted its El Paso investment more than sixfold to $10 billion in March, targeting 1 gigawatt of capacity ahead of a 2028 opening. The deal marks a broader shift in how Big Tech funds AI infrastructure, with Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft collectively projected to spend over $630 billion on AI in 2026. Meta, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan did not respond to requests for comment.
Meta is raising about $13 billion to help finance its massive El Paso data centre, and it is doing so with debt. AI infrastructure has also been built using borrowed money, a dramatic departure from how Big Tech grew its businesses in the past.
Key Highlights
- Meta is working with Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan and structuring a $13 billion financing for its El Paso, Texas data centre.
- Most of the financing will probably be debt-based, with the rest as equity
- In March, Meta scaled its El Paso commitment to $10 billion from a previous six-fold target of 1 gigawatt of capacity in advance of an anticipated opening by 2028.
- Meta, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft combined are forecast to spend more.
Meta to Raise $13 Billion for El Paso AI Data Centre
Meta is arranging a roughly $13 billion financing package to build the data centre with Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase, a source said. Bloomberg News was first to report the deal. The financing is expected to be predominantly debt, with the balance in equity. The El Paso facility represents one of the largest single investments in AI infrastructure currently made, and Meta is bringing in two of the biggest Wall Street banks to help fund it.
Meta Is Borrowing to Build
In March, Meta raised its investment in the El Paso data centre from $1.5 billion to over $10 billion to reach 1 gigawatt of capacity by 2028. Raising outside financing, mostly through debt, is a big move for a company that has nearly always financed itself from its own cash. As Big Tech companies are each investing hundreds of billions in AI infrastructure alone, the vast scale of investment required for these processes is forcing even some of the richest firms to take out loans as a quicker and more flexible route ahead in the race towards dominating AI. Meta and its competitors, Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT) are together expected to spend more than $630 billion on AI infrastructure in 2026.
That Signals For The AI Race
The risks will focus on the willingness of companies like Meta to raise debt for data centre projects is itself as an indication of how seriously they are taking this race with AI. Big Tech giants sat on huge cash mountains for years, having little use or desire to borrow. The pace of change is such that the scale of investment necessary is competitively appropriate for AI as it moves faster than what these corporations generate in cash.
Meta is not alone, the industry using structured financing or hybrids of debt and equity to finance gigawatt-scale data centres has become common. For investors and analysts following the AI buildout, this El Paso deal (both as to scale and terms) is an indicator that the infrastructure phase of the AI race is heating up, not cooling down.
FAQs
- Why is the data centre being built in El Paso?
The AI data centre in question is targeting 1 Gigawatt of capacity and should be operational in 2028.
- Why is the usage of debt opposed to issuing its own cash?
The amount of investment required in AI infrastructure is so large, that even Big Tech companies with plenty of cash are resorting to raising debt to expedite their AI push and remain nimble.
- Is the deal confirmed by Meta, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan?
Neither of the three replied obout this news.
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