Broadcom’s banking syndicate began gathering $60 billion in AI chip financing on 2 October for Anthropic and other companies, compared with a $35 billion Anthropic chip-financing transaction reported in June, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the new package.
Key points
- Banks are preparing a $42 billion Class A senior-secured tranche, according to Stocktwits.
- Blackstone plans to commit $9 billion through its funds to a separate $18 billion junior-debt tranche and syndicate the remainder.
- A report of Anthropic’s IPO filing put its five-year TPU leasing commitment at $125.2 billion.
Banks prepare $42 billion Class A tranche
Banks are preparing to send investors syndication letters for a $42 billion Class A senior-secured tranche. Blackstone is leading a separate $18 billion Class B junior-debt tranche. The financing has been taking shape for weeks.
Dataconomy reported that the package had not been announced when people familiar with it described the terms. It reported that Broadcom declined to comment. The planned syndication leaves the banks seeking investors for the senior portion, while Blackstone is seeking other investors for part of the junior portion.
The $42 billion figure also appeared in reporting on Anthropic’s IPO filing. The filing described an agreement under which Broadcom would lend Anthropic up to $42 billion for infrastructure spending, Stocktwits reported. An earlier AI Affairs article on the Broadcom agreement reported the same maximum loan amount.
The proposed lending would finance roughly one-third of Anthropic’s $125.2 billion commitment to lease tensor processing unit computing capacity over five years. Anthropic had announced an expanded partnership with Google and Broadcom in April for multiple gigawatts of next-generation TPU capacity beginning in 2027. Stocktwits reported that the capacity was intended to power Anthropic’s Claude models.
Anthropic is expected to become Broadcom’s largest chip-design customer next year. That expectation places Anthropic’s planned computing purchases at the centre of Broadcom’s chip business, alongside the proposed financing for its infrastructure spending.
Blackstone plans $9 billion commitment
Blackstone plans to provide $9 billion through various funds for the Class B tranche and syndicate the remainder. Its planned commitment would put its funds directly into the junior debt rather than leave the entire $18 billion tranche to other investors.
The terms identify separate senior and junior classes of debt. They do not make the proposed $60 billion package an Anthropic-only transaction: Bloomberg described the financing as benefiting Anthropic and other companies. The financing would help those companies obtain chips and other AI infrastructure.
Blackstone already holds a stake in Anthropic. It is therefore involved with the AI company as an existing investor as well as the planned lead participant in the junior-debt tranche.
Earlier $35 billion deal financed Anthropic chips
A $35 billion private-credit arrangement reported in June offers a separate example of how lenders have financed chips for Anthropic. TradingKey reported that Apollo and Blackstone had arranged the transaction to buy Google tensor processing units, which a special-purpose vehicle would lease to Anthropic. The vehicle’s debt was to be repaid primarily from lease income, with chip values providing further support.
TradingKey put $30 billion of that earlier deal in two senior tranches carrying Broadcom credit and residual-value support. It reported a $6 billion A1 tranche offered to banks at a Treasury-rate coupon plus 100 basis points, and a $24 billion A2 tranche priced at par with a 5.75% coupon.
The earlier deal also included $4.5 billion of Class B notes without Broadcom’s support, carrying an 8.5% coupon. Apollo’s Atlas SP Partners supplied $800 million in equity to own the vehicle. In that arrangement, lease payments were the principal source of debt repayment. TradingKey reported that Broadcom would cover a shortfall for the supported senior investors if Anthropic failed to pay and a chip sale did not repay their debt.
Broadcom launched a financing platform with Apollo and Blackstone in June, targeting over 20 gigawatts by 2028 through its custom XPUs and networking technology. Its initial $35 billion transaction backed more than 1 gigawatt of computing capacity for Anthropic.
Nvidia announced a partnership in August with six financial firms, including Blackstone, aimed at raising more than $500 billion for AI, Dataconomy reported. That plan includes financing to help customers buy Nvidia chips.
