Blue Owl’s Stack Seeks $5.9 Billion Loan: Fueling the AI Data Center Debt Boom
The private-credit giant’s data-center arm is back in the market months after a $2.1 billion deal, as borrowing to build AI capacity keeps accelerating.
July 30, 2026 – 8:23 am
Stack Infrastructure, the data-center arm of private-credit giant Blue Owl, is seeking a loan of about $5.9 billion, as reported by Bloomberg. The deal, if closed, would be among the larger single financings in a market that has become the engine room of AI development.
Blue Owl has established itself as a key player in this market through Stack and a series of joint ventures, becoming one of the biggest private financiers of data centers required for AI, part of a borrowing wave now totaling hundreds of billions.
This latest loan follows closely on the heels of their previous funding round just months ago. In February, Stack raised $2.1 billion, highlighting the rapid growth in demand for capacity and debt financing.
The structure of this financing reflects the current market dynamics. Rather than fund data centers with cash, companies are increasingly borrowing against the assets and long-term contracts that support them, spreading the cost across lenders eager for higher yields. Blue Owl has been instrumental in arranging tens of billions in financing for major hyperscale projects, including facilities tied to Meta, bringing private credit to the forefront where traditional banks have shown caution.
The scale of these projects has significantly increased. Individual AI campuses now cost tens of billions to build, surpassing what any single bank would lend, which has elevated the role of private-credit firms like Blue Owl.
While this presents an attractive opportunity, there are risks involved. Data center debt relies on the underlying demand, and a few recent deals, such as Oracle’s loan with PIMCO, have experienced setbacks due to reduced bank participation. Lenders are relying on the assumption that compute is scarce, the companies renting it are highly profitable, and long-term contracts provide stability. However, this circular reliance on AI firms’ cash flow and chipmakers’ support could pose challenges if the market shifts.
Blue Owl’s substantial size gives them an advantage over traditional banks in holding onto loans that might be unacceptable to regulated lenders. They have capitalized on this opportunity as the AI infrastructure market has expanded.