Blackstone, the world's largest alternative asset manager, has signed a deal with US natural gas firm Williams to fund the development of five behind-the-meter projects to meet growing power demand from the data center market in North America.

Per the terms of the agreement, Blackstone and its partners will provide $5.34 billion in committed capital in exchange for a 49 percent noncontrolling equity interest in the five projects. Williams will retain a 51 percent controlling stake in the assets. Williams also holds a buyout right between years seven and 14 of the agreement, valued at Blackstone's outstanding investment balance.

The investment will support the construction of the Socrates, Apollo, Aquila, Socrates the Younger, and Neo projects. The projects are natural gas plants, with Williams constructing both the plants and the necessary pipeline infrastructure needed to power them.

According to reports, Williams' Socrates project in New Albany, Ohio, will deliver 200MW of power to a Meta data center campus and is nearing completion. Socrates the Younger, also in Ohio, will add 340MW, and Neo, the largest of the five at 682MW, is expected online in the second half of 2028. The Aquila project is the only one not located in Ohio, with the project set for Utah. The project’s capacity has not been disclosed, but it is expected to come into service in the first half of 2027.

Williams said that the deal will provide the necessary capital to grow its existing Power Innovation projects and support the delivery of its 6GW+ backlog. The company has framed its Power Innovation portfolio, which is expected to have a capacity of approximately 2.6GW, as a turnkey energy infrastructure platform built on its natural gas supply, delivery, and power capabilities.

"With more than 2.6 gigawatts announced, our Power Innovation portfolio is scaling rapidly, and we look forward to delivering these critical energy solutions for American companies. The investment from Blackstone and its partners enhances returns on the existing portfolio through a meaningful promote structure, while enabling us to redeploy capital into new high-return projects that will further accelerate our long-term growth," said Chad Zamarin, Williams president and CEO.

"Williams is a leader in meeting the country's rapidly growing power demands, including providing critical hard assets to serve the AI infrastructure buildout," added Robert Horn, global head of infrastructure and asset-based credit at Blackstone, and Rick Campbell, senior managing director at Blackstone Credit & Insurance.

Blackstone has a range of data center interests and has made investments across the sector. In 2021, Blackstone acquired QTS Data Centers for $10bn. It then acquired APAC operator AirTrunk for $16.1bn in 2025 alongside the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

The investment firm has also taken stakes in Vnet, Lumina CloudInfra, Copeland, Park Place Technologies, and Winthrop Technologies, as well as a number of joint ventures with COPT, Digital Realty, and others.