IT Home News on October 27: According to Reuters, Bank of America, Blackstone, Citi and Morgan Stanley will provide US$63 billion (IT Home note: approximately RMB 420.679 billion at current exchange rates) in financing for Anthropic to purchase Broadcom's artificial intelligence chips and networking equipment, making it one of the largest debt deals related to AI computing power construction.
As AI demand continues to rise, major tech companies are racing to stockpile computing power to support increasingly complex workloads, giving rise to massive investments in computing infrastructure.
The companies involved said on Monday local time that the deal will be implemented through a newly established special-purpose entity, which will purchase Broadcom's AI accelerator chips and networking equipment and then lease them to Anthropic, the developer of Claude.
Bank of America, Citi and Morgan Stanley are responsible for arranging first-lien financing, while Blackstone provides the committed capital portion of the second-lien financing.
Broadcom offers "residual value support" to the senior debt lenders, effectively giving lenders a guarantee within this financing structure: Broadcom is willing to bear losses arising from declines in asset value, with a cap equal to the amount of the first-lien debt, though the announcement did not disclose the specific size of that debt tranche.
According to the companies, the equipment is expected to begin delivery in 2027, as part of a previously announced strategic computing supply agreement involving Broadcom.
Earlier, Apollo and Blackstone had already reached an agreement with Broadcom to contribute US$35 billion (approximately RMB 233.711 billion at current exchange rates) to expand Anthropic's AI computing power.
This latest deal highlights that banks and alternative asset managers are playing an increasingly important role in financing infrastructure to support the ever-expanding demand for AI computing power.
Anthropic submitted its IPO application on Monday local time, and this IPO is expected to set a record; at the same time, however, disclosures of large losses and security risks may also test investors' willingness to invest in this AI giant.