Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Inc. is making a $29 billion infrastructure bet to stay ahead in the AI arms raceand some of Wall Street’s biggest names are backing it. Pacific Investment Management Co. (Pimco) is leading a $26 billion debt package, likely structured as investment-grade bonds secured by the assets of Meta’s upcoming data center in rural Louisiana. Blue Owl Capital Inc. (NYSE:OBDC) is providing $3 billion in equity. Morgan Stanley ran the fundraising process, which drew aggressive bids from Apollo Global and KKR before Pimco and Blue Owl emerged as lead financiers. Blue Owl shares jumped 2.4% in premarket trading. Meta rose 0.4%.
This isn’t just another capex line itemMeta is using this financing to push harder into AI infrastructure, a segment executives say is already contributing meaningful revenue. On its latest earnings call, CFO Susan Li said spending will increase further next year as Meta targets hard-to-find AI talent and builds scalable systems to support training and inference workloads. She also hinted at more project-based financing models in the future, noting that Meta’s infrastructure strategy could attract significant external financing while still offering the company operational flexibility over time.
For private capital, the Meta deal could be a blueprint for what comes next. Investors are rushing into asset-based finance tied to AI data centers, a market that McKinsey says may require $6.7 trillion by 2030. It’s not just MetaMicrosoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) recently partnered with BlackRock to raise $30 billion, while Elon Musk’s xAI secured $5 billion in syndicated debt. Apollo also just took a controlling stake in Stream Data Centers. With infrastructure and credit now colliding in the AI boom, these deals might be early signals of how the next decade of tech will be financed.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.