Google and Blackstone form an AI cloud joint venture, with a $5 billion equity investment scheduled to launch in 2027

BlackRock and Google announced on May 18 the formation of a joint venture to create a new U.S.-headquartered company offering cloud computing services for Google Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) in a “compute-as-a-service” model. BlackRock will contribute $5 billion in initial equity capital from the funds it manages, with the first batch of 500 megawatts of computing capacity expected to go live in 2027.

Confirmation of the Joint Venture’s Business Structure

As confirmed by BlackRock’s official announcement:

Service model: compute-as-a-service, providing data center capacity, operations, networking, and cloud TPU

Independence: aside from Google Cloud’s existing TPU services, this joint venture provides customers with another option to access cloud TPUs

Google’s role: provides hardware, software, and services including TPUs, enabling the new company to respond quickly to demand for accelerated computing

Google TPU background: has been developing and deploying for more than a decade in production environments, supporting Gemini and Google’s AI products for billions of users worldwide

Confirmed Capital and Capacity Commitments

As confirmed by the official announcement:

Initial equity capital: $5 billion, invested by BlackRock from the funds it manages

Initial computing capacity: 500 megawatts, expected to go live in 2027

Expansion plan: the official announcement says the plan is to “significantly expand over time,” though the specific scale has not been disclosed

CEO Appointment and Executive Quotes

CEO of the new company: Benjamin Treynor Sloss, with over 20 years of experience in Google global infrastructure and operations.

BlackRock President and Chief Operating Officer Jon Gray (Jon Gray) said: “We see a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build and invest at scale in artificial intelligence infrastructure. This new company has enormous potential and will help meet unprecedented computing demands. We are very honored to partner with Google, combining their world-class TPU and artificial intelligence capabilities with BlackRock’s outstanding strengths in energy and digital infrastructure.”

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said: “This joint venture with BlackRock will help meet the market’s growing demand for TPUs. TPUs are optimized for efficiency and performance in the AI era. Together, we will accelerate the transition to AI and provide enterprises with more choices for accessing accelerated computing capabilities.”

Frequently Asked Questions

How is this joint venture different from Google Cloud’s existing TPU services?

According to the official announcement, this joint venture provides customers with “another option besides using TPUs through Google Cloud,” offering an independent access route for customers that need TPU cloud services outside of Google Cloud. Specific service pricing and agreement details have not yet been announced.

What is BlackRock’s current scale in the AI cloud infrastructure space?

According to official materials, BlackRock is the world’s largest data center provider and also the world’s largest alternative asset manager with more than $1.3 trillion in assets under management. Jon Gray said that BlackRock will combine its strengths in energy and digital infrastructure with Google’s TPU capabilities.

When will the first batch of computing capacity be available, and how will it be expanded afterward?

According to the official announcement, the first batch of 500 megawatts of computing capacity is expected to go live in 2027. The company plans to significantly expand over time, but the specific scale and timeline for follow-on expansion have not yet been disclosed.