•Debt-led funding underpins Meta's 1GW El Paso AI facility build-out
•Deal signals deepening arms race among hyperscalers for AI compute capacity
The fact
Meta Platforms is working with Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase on a roughly $13 billion financing package for a data centre in El Paso. The structure is expected to be mainly debt with a smaller equity portion. The facility's total investment, previously raised to about $10bn, has now expanded to a $13bn financing package. It targets roughly 1GW of capacity for a 2028 opening.
The Assessment
The $13bn package marks a step change in AI infrastructure financing scale, as hyperscalers shift from equity-led to debt-heavy structures to fund ever-larger compute bets. For Meta, the deal reflects urgency to catch up with rivals in AI capacity. Traditional equity alone cannot finance 1GW-scale projects quickly enough. Debt enables rapid scaling but exposes Meta to interest-rate risk on projects with uncertain returns.
What to Watch
Whether rival hyperscalers copy this debt-led model. If so, this marks an industry inflection point. Also watch: syndication terms and El Paso build-out pace against the 2028 timeline.
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