As reported in WSJ today, BlackRock is investing billions in a new data-center project near El Paso. 

This isn't just another financing story. It's another signal that data centers are becoming a true infrastructure asset class. As AI accelerates demand for computing power, the capital required to build next-generation data centers has reached a scale that increasingly resembles major energy, transportation, and utility projects. Institutional investors are stepping in to finance and own these assets, while hyperscalers focus on developing AI and securing long-term computing capacity.

Modern data centers depend on reliable power, natural gas, transmission, fiber, water, and increasingly sophisticated commercial arrangements to bring all of those pieces together. They are no longer simply buildings that house servers—they are essential infrastructure supporting the digital economy.

As this trend continues, the legal, regulatory, and commercial frameworks surrounding data centers will, hopefully, increasingly look like those that have long governed traditional infrastructure projects.

The digital economy is no longer just built on software. It's built on infrastructure.