About 20 banks, including Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, are leading the $18 billion loan for a data center campus in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke to Bloomberg. The project is part of the Stargate initiative, a collaboration between OpenAI, SoftBank Group, and Oracle aimed at rapidly deploying $500 billion in AI infrastructure nationwide. Oracle is expected to be the primary tenant, while equity is being provided by Blue Owl Capital. The banks plan to syndicate the debt to additional banks and institutional investors, with commitments due in late November.
The development is being facilitated by BorderPlex Digital Assets, in partnership with STACK Infrastructure, a Blue Owl-owned data center operator that is constructing the facilities. Pricing for the loan is reportedly set at 2.5 percentage points over the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, with a four-year maturity and options to extend twice by 12 months each. Representatives for the banks, Oracle, Blue Owl, BorderPlex, and STACK declined to comment.
This financing follows similar mega deals in the AI infrastructure sector, including a $38 billion loan package for data centers in Texas and Wisconsin, and Meta Platforms’ $30 billion investment-grade bond sale and private capital arrangement to fund its Hyperion site in Louisiana. Morgan Stanley estimates that capital expenditures on AI infrastructure could surpass $3 trillion in the next three years. In addition to traditional project finance loans, companies have also tapped investment-grade bonds, high-yield bonds, and private credit loans to fund the rapid expansion of AI data centers.
Local authorities in Doña Ana County have supported the project with a $165 billion industrial revenue bond package and extensive tax incentives, making it one of the largest economic development initiatives in the state’s history. The New Mexico campus is expected to play a key role in OpenAI and Oracle’s goal of building out AI infrastructure capable of supporting next-generation systems such as ChatGPT, Bloomberg reported.
