(New York) Microsoft has partnered with asset manager BlackRock and funds to invest $100 billion in infrastructure dedicated to the development of artificial intelligence (AI), a sign of the ever-growing appetite for this technology.
The project is being financed by New York-based investment firm Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and UAE-based technology investment fund MGX, according to a statement released Tuesday.
The four partners intend to inject some 30 billion dollars from investors and companies into this new vehicle, called GAIIP (Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership).
Microsoft plans to invest directly in GAIIP.
The consortium plans to raise debt in a second phase to expand its financial capacity to a total of 100 billion dollars.
Investments will be made primarily in the United States, with some of the funds going to American allies. The funds will go to the creation or expansion of data centers as well as the construction of electricity production infrastructure to power the energy-intensive AI facilities.
The development of artificial intelligence in general and so-called generative AI requires enormous computing capacities, provided by legions of computer servers, housed in data centers.
The power consumption of these servers is colossal and threatens to saturate the American electricity grid if its capacities are not extended by the addition of new resources. The project’s stakeholders suggest that priority will be given to renewable energies.
“The amounts needed for AI infrastructure and the energy needed to run it are beyond what any company or government can finance,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said in the statement, justifying the formation of the group.
The American Nvidia, the champion of semiconductors needed for AI, will be a technical partner of GAIIP.