Meta and BlackRock's $12 billion El Paso bond deal shows the AI arms race is finally moving the credit market
BlackRock is raising more than $12 billion in bonds for Meta's 1-gigawatt El Paso data center via Project Sopaipilla Holdings, one of the largest single infrastructure financings on record. Rising coverage ratios and softening investor demand signal that the AI debt boom is pushing borrowing costs higher, with Morgan Stanley forecasting $570 billion in AI-related bond issuance in 2026 alone. The deal's off-balance-sheet structure is becoming the new template for hyperscaler infrastructure financ