Meta (META.US) to spend $29 billion to expand its AI data center, with Pimco and Blue Owl leading a massive fundraising effort.

According to informed sources, as the competition for artificial intelligence infrastructure heats up, Meta (META.US) has selected The Pacific Investment Management Company (Pimco) and Blue Owl Capital Inc. to lead the $29 billion financing for its data center expansion project in rural Louisiana. Anonymous sources said that Pimco is expected to lead the $26 billion debt financing portion, while Blue Owl will provide $3 billion in equity financing. They revealed that the debt portion may be issued in the form of investment-grade bonds supported by data center assets. The social media giant partnered with Morgan Stanley to attract top private credit institutions through a competitive financing process. Sources said that Apollo Global Management Inc. and KKR Group are still competing for leading investments in the final round of negotiations, and may introduce other investors in subsequent stages. Private equity firms are actively seeking to expand their differentiated businesses through asset-backed transactions or high-rated corporate financing. Many institutions view the trillion-dollar asset-backed financing market as a revenue growth opportunity, with the data center sector being seen as a significant opportunity. This financing will help Meta accelerate its artificial intelligence development - company executives have disclosed that the AI business has generated "significant" revenue. Meta stated that cost growth will further accelerate next year, with a focus on AI infrastructure needs and cutting-edge technology talent that can optimize models. Meta's CFO told investors on last week's earnings call, "We believe these models will attract significant external funding to support large-scale data center projects, leveraging our ability to build world-class infrastructure while maintaining flexibility for future demand changes." Other tech giants are also collaborating with investment firms to build AI data centers. Microsoft Corporation is working with BlackRock, Inc. to raise $30 billion in private equity capital and plans to deploy up to $100 billion in the field; Elon Musk's xAI company raised $5 billion through the syndicated debt market in June to advance the development of advanced AI models. Earlier this week, Apollo announced its agreement to acquire a majority stake in Stream Data Centers.