Related Digital is approaching the completion of roughly $16 billion in financing to build a major Oracle data center campus in Saline Township, Michigan, according to reporting. The project is intended to provide the compute capacity to run Oracle-hosted applications for OpenAI and is moving toward finalizing funding as soon as this month.
The financing package under discussion would pair an equity stake from Blackstone with an extensive debt component led by Bank of America. Sources indicate Blackstone's planned equity contribution is now expected to be near $2 billion, which is about half of what had been considered earlier in negotiations. Bank of America is anticipated to lead an additional $14 billion in debt financing. That debt portion was originally conceived as a construction loan but is now likely to be structured as a bond offering.
The Saline Township campus was first announced in October by OpenAI, Oracle and Related Digital as part of a broader effort called Stargate to expand U.S. AI infrastructure. The developers described the facility as exceeding 1 gigawatt of capacity, a scale intended to support large-scale AI workloads.
The move reflects a broader pattern of major technology companies investing heavily in the physical infrastructure needed for advanced artificial intelligence, driven by the race to develop systems that match or exceed human cognitive capabilities. The size and structure of the financing show how developers and financiers are combining large equity commitments with sizable debt arrangements to fund these capital-intensive facilities.
Representatives for Related Digital, Oracle, Blackstone and Bank of America did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Also appearing within the reporting was information about institutional stock-evaluation tools. A service named ProPicks AI was described as evaluating Bank of America Corporation, ticker BAC, among thousands of companies using more than 100 financial metrics. That description noted the tool seeks to identify stocks with favorable risk-reward profiles based on current data.
Summary
Related Digital is nearing completion of a roughly $16 billion financing package to develop a more-than-1-gigawatt Oracle data center campus in Saline Township, Michigan - a site intended to host Oracle applications for OpenAI. The plan combines nearly $2 billion of equity from Blackstone with about $14 billion of debt led by Bank of America, the latter likely to be structured as a bond offering rather than a conventional construction loan. The financing could be closed as soon as this month.
Key points
- Related Digital is finalizing about $16 billion to build a large Oracle data center campus in Saline Township, Michigan.
- Blackstone's equity contribution is now projected around $2 billion, approximately half of earlier expectations, while Bank of America is leading about $14 billion in debt financing likely to be issued as bonds.
- The campus, announced as part of the Stargate initiative, is planned to exceed 1 gigawatt of capacity to support Oracle-hosted applications for OpenAI; the trend highlights substantial capital flows into AI infrastructure.
Risks and uncertainties
- Financing completion timing - the package is expected to be finalized soon, but the precise closing date is not confirmed, affecting project schedules and capital markets participants.
- Deal structure changes - the shift from a construction loan to a bond offering for the debt portion introduces different market and issuance risks that may affect pricing and execution.
- Equity sizing - Blackstone's reduced equity contribution relative to earlier considerations may alter sponsor economics and influence future capital planning for the project.
Tags: AI, Datacenter, Finance, Infrastructure