Meta in Talks to Raise $35 Billion for Data-Center Financing Led by Apollo

(Bloomberg) — Apollo Global Management Inc. is in talks to lead a roughly $35 billion financing package for Meta Platforms Inc. to help develop data centers in the US, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

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The alternative asset manager has discussed providing a major part of the financing, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The funding conversations are at an early stage and there’s no guarantee a deal will be completed.

Representatives for both companies declined to comment.

Meta already spelled out its investment plans for as much as $65 billion on projects related to artificial intelligence this year. They include building a giant new data center and increasing hiring in AI teams, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said last month.

There’s an estimated need for hundreds of billions of dollars to build out the infrastructure needed to power AI demand. Bankers and investors have been eager to get a piece of the action after watching stock markets reward companies critical to the AI-ecosystem over much of the past year.

In recent financing deals, Apollo has retained a slice of the funding it provides while syndicating the rest to other investors. The firm has ramped up its ability to write jumbo checks to investment-grade corporations in recent years as it pushes deeper into what it has said is private credit’s next frontier.

Meta has said its focus includes bringing about a gigawatt of computing power online in 2025. The Facebook parent has already announced a $10 billion data center in Louisiana and bought new computer chips to power some of its products.

Microsoft Corp., one of the companies leading the Big Tech charge in AI, has said it expects to spend $80 billion this fiscal year on data centers. Its CEO, Satya Nadella, said last month that his company has to sustain spending to meet “exponentially more demand.”

–With assistance from Carmen Arroyo, Kurt Wagner and Allison McNeely.