Mark Moss explains how Wall Street is securitizing data centers. Meta finances only 20% of its $27 billion Louisiana campus while Blue Owl covers the rest and leases it back. Data center securitization issuance jumped from $2.4 billion in 2020 to $15.5 billion recently, shifting the funding burden to capital markets investors.
I don't think the $500 billion is the real story. The financing market behind it is the real story, and it's already happening. And Wall Street's not starting from zero. I mean, Meta's building its Hyperion data centers in Louisiana. Total development cost of that is $27 billion, but Meta is not funding the whole thing. Blue Owl provides 80% and Meta owns 20%. Then Meta leases the campus back. Now, part of Blue Owl's capital, it comes from debt sold to outside investors. So think about what just happened. Meta gets the infrastructure it needs, but outside investors provide most of the capital, right? That's exactly the shift we've been talking about. And Wall Street's already taking this one step further. It's packaging data centers into securities investors can buy. Now, in 2020, data center securitization issuance was about $2.4 billion. Last year, $15.5 billion.
