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AI & Tech

AI News: Anthropic sets premium price for Blackstone chip financing

Nic Reeve5 min read
AI News: Anthropic sets premium price for Blackstone chip financing

Anthropic is offering Blackstone a return of more than 10% on debt financing tied to a major chip-leasing arrangement, according to reporting published on October 16, 2026. The proposed transaction would have Blackstone funds invest $9 billion in debt backed by Anthropic’s five-year lease payments for computing chips, a deal that places high borrowing costs at the centre of the company’s expansion plans.

What happened in the proposed financing?

The Financial Times reported on October 16 that Anthropic was offering Blackstone a double-digit yield to help fund its latest semiconductor deal. Reuters carried the report on October 16 and said it could not immediately verify the details.

  • According to the Financial Times report as relayed by Reuters, Blackstone funds would invest $9 billion in chip-financing debt.
  • According to the same reporting, the debt would be secured by Anthropic’s five-year lease payments for the chips.
  • According to Investing.com’s October 16 report, the wider financing package is valued at about $60 billion.
  • According to Investing.com, the proposed structure includes roughly $18 billion in junior debt, with Blackstone expected to provide half.

Blackstone declined to comment in the reporting cited by Investing.com. Anthropic had not immediately responded to requests for comment.

Why is the yield above 10%?

The high return reflects the risk and scale of financing artificial-intelligence infrastructure before the underlying assets have generated long operating histories. Investors would receive payments linked to Anthropic’s contractual chip leases rather than relying only on a conventional corporate bond.

  • According to Investing.com, the proposed junior debt carries a coupon of about 10%, with the total return expected to exceed 10% after discounts and fees.
  • According to Investing.com, similarly rated borrowers typically pay about 7% in public bond markets.
  • According to Reuters, the Financial Times said the financing would carry a yield above 10%.

That gap suggests investors are demanding compensation for the company’s heavy infrastructure needs, the specialised nature of the collateral and uncertainty over how quickly computing capacity will produce revenue. The structure also shifts part of Anthropic’s expansion burden from equity investors to lenders.

What chips and infrastructure are involved?

The transaction is linked to a large supply of Google-designed tensor processing units, or TPUs, according to Investing.com’s report published October 16. TPUs are specialised processors designed for machine-learning workloads and are an alternative to the graphics processors widely used to train and run generative models.

  • According to Investing.com, the arrangement would support Anthropic’s acquisition of approximately 1.5 gigawatts of Google’s custom TPUs.
  • According to Investing.com, the proposed transaction is known as Project North Star.
  • According to the report, the financing includes around $42 billion in senior debt guaranteed by Broadcom.
  • According to Investing.com, Broadcom works with Google on development of the chips involved in the package.

The scale of the plan shows how model developers are increasingly financing computing capacity through structured debt, equipment leases and long-term contractual commitments. The approach can provide access to hardware without requiring the company to fund the entire build-out from cash or new shares.

How does this compare with Anthropic’s earlier borrowing?

Anthropic has already used a similar structure to raise money for computing infrastructure. The earlier transaction provides a direct comparison for investors assessing whether the latest terms reflect changing market conditions or a larger risk premium.

  • According to Investing.com, Anthropic raised approximately $4.4 billion through Project Big Sky about four months before the October 16 report.
  • According to Investing.com, Project Big Sky carried an interest rate of 8.5%.
  • According to the same report, the latest proposed financing would offer a coupon near 10%, before fees and issuance discounts push the total return higher.

The increase from 8.5% to a return above 10% would raise Anthropic’s cost of financing, even as the newer deal is much larger. The difference also indicates that lenders are scrutinising the rapid growth of AI infrastructure spending.

Who would provide the rest of the debt?

Blackstone is not expected to fund the entire junior tranche. Investing.com reported on October 16 that another $9 billion of junior debt could be offered to additional investors in the coming months, potentially at different pricing.

  • According to Investing.com, Blackstone’s expected $9 billion investment represents half of the planned $18 billion junior tranche.
  • According to the report, the remaining $9 billion would be marketed to other investors.
  • According to Investing.com, the senior portion would total about $42 billion and carry a Broadcom guarantee.

The final investor mix and pricing could change before the financing is drawn. A wider group of buyers would give Anthropic access to more capital, but the terms offered to each tranche would depend on seniority, guarantees and the strength of the lease cash flows.

What does the deal mean for Anthropic’s funding plans?

The proposed financing would let Anthropic secure computing capacity while preserving equity capital for research, staff and product development. Debt also creates fixed payment obligations, so the company would need sustained revenue growth and access to capital to support the leases.

According to Investing.com, Anthropic is seeking investment-grade status, which could lower borrowing costs in future transactions. The report said the debt might become tradable in the institutional 144A bond market once the financing is drawn in 2027.

Investment-grade status is not guaranteed by the proposal. Ratings agencies and investors would assess Anthropic’s revenue, cash flow, customer commitments, competitive position and exposure to rapidly changing chip technology before assigning or maintaining a rating.

What happens next?

The financing still requires final terms, investor commitments and execution of the underlying chip and lease arrangements. Reuters said on October 16 that it had not independently verified the Financial Times report, leaving the reported yield, allocation and timetable subject to change.

  • According to Investing.com, the remaining junior debt could be marketed to other investors in the coming months.
  • According to Investing.com, the debt could be drawn down in 2027.
  • According to the Financial Times report as cited by Reuters, Anthropic would use five-year chip lease payments as the debt backing.

The proposed transaction will be watched beyond Anthropic. It could help establish pricing for future borrowing by AI developers that need billions of dollars in processors, data-centre capacity and power before those assets produce predictable returns.

Sources

  1. 1.money.usnews.com
  2. 2.ft.com
  3. 3.charlotteobserver.com
  4. 4.globalbankingandfinance.com
  5. 5.x.com
  6. 6.finchannel.com
  7. 7.finance.yahoo.com
  8. 8.capital.com
  9. 9.investing.com

Read more →

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