Blackstone AUM Hits Record $1.37 Trillion as AI Infrastructure Bet Pays Off

Blackstone's assets under management reached a record $1.37 trillion as of Sept. 30, up 10% year over year, driven by its infrastructure and AI data-center strategy, the alternative asset manager reported in its latest quarterly earnings. Third-quarter inflows totaled $63.3 billion, with $271.6 billion over the trailing 12 months, a four-year high. The infrastructure platform's AUM rose 40% year over year to $97 billion, posting a 6.4% quarterly return and nearly 29% over 12 months, versus roughly 4% for the global infrastructure index. President and COO Jon Gray said the global data-center platform expects to add about 6 gigawatts of leased capacity this year, triple last year's pace. About 7% of Blackstone's roughly $1.4 trillion is allocated to AI infrastructure through equity and debt, including a $9 billion investment in Anthropic subordinated debt at a 10% yield. The firm acquired QTS for about $10 billion in 2021 and AirTrunk for about $16 billion in 2024. Blackstone is betting on scarce physical capacity—racks, power, cooling and long-term leases—rather than models or chips.