Oracle secures $16B data center

Related Digital and Blackstone said on April 24 that they secured financing for a $16 billion data center campus in Saline Township, Michigan, built for Oracle. (blackstone.com) (related.com) The financing package combines equity from Related Digital and Blackstone-affiliated funds with fixed-rate, long-term debt anchored by PIMCO-managed funds and accounts. Bank of America said it served as structuring agent and financial adviser, with Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo also advising Related Digital. (blackstone.com) (newsroom.bankofamerica.com) The Saline Township campus is planned at more than 1 gigawatt, a size that would place it among the largest data center projects in the United States. Business Insider reported the site is meant to serve Oracle’s artificial-intelligence business and is associated with OpenAI’s Stargate buildout. (businessinsider.com) (related.com) A gigawatt is a utility-scale amount of electricity, roughly the output of a large power plant. Michigan regulators conditionally approved DTE Electric contracts in December 2025 to supply up to 1.4 gigawatts to the Washtenaw County project with protections meant to keep other customers from absorbing the cost. (michigan.gov) (michiganadvance.com) The Michigan project has drawn local opposition over power demand, water use and the loss of farmland in a rural township. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said this month she is appealing the commission’s approval of DTE’s Saline data center contracts. (mlive.com) (msn.com) That local fight is colliding with a wider national one over who pays for the grid upgrades needed for artificial-intelligence computing. CBS News reported that Georgia Power imposed six rate hikes in the last three years while Georgia also saw a boom in data centers and the start-up of the Vogtle nuclear plant. (cbsnews.com) CBS reported that the average Georgia Power bill cited by consumer advocate Patty Durand rose from about $150 a month to $225. Georgia Power disputed the idea that data center costs are being shifted to households and pointed to a rate freeze and projected revenue from large customers. (cbsnews.com 1) (cbsnews.com 2) U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff said on April 21 that his office is investigating whether artificial-intelligence data centers are contributing to rising power bills in Georgia and nationally. In his letter to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chair Laura Swett, he asked how regulators will ensure technology companies “pay their own way” and set a June 1 response deadline. (cbsnews.com) (usatoday.com) For Oracle and its financing partners, the Michigan deal shows that capital is still available for very large artificial-intelligence campuses if power contracts and customers are lined up. For utilities and regulators, the next question is whether the safeguards promised in Michigan hold up better than the arguments now unfolding in Georgia. (blackstone.com) (michigan.gov) (cbsnews.com)