The Financial Times reports Anthropic offered Blackstone a yield above 10% on part of a $60 billion chip debt package
*ANTHROPIC OFFERED BLACKSTONE A DOUBLE-DIGIT YIELD EXCEEDING 10% FOR A $60B CHIP DEBT PACKAGE - FT *BLACKSTONE FUNDS TO INVEST $9 BILLION, BACKED BY FIVE-YEAR LEASE PAYMENTS FROM ANTHROPIC FOR CHIPS — FT
Context
The high price shows what lenders demand to fund AI chips for a company rated below investment grade, and the FT says it would be the largest chip financing to date.
This is secondhand: Investing.com and Kalshi are relaying a Financial Times report that cites people familiar with the matter. Reuters said it could not immediately verify the report, and neither Anthropic nor Blackstone has confirmed it.
Deep dive
On October 17, Investing.com posted headlines citing the Financial Times: that Anthropic offered Blackstone a yield above 10% for a $60 billion chip debt package, and that Blackstone funds would invest $9 billion backed by five year lease payments from Anthropic for chips. Kalshi Finance posted the same headline earlier that morning without naming a source.
The FT report was published the evening of October 16. According to it and to summaries by Mint and Reuters, the package is called Project North Star and would fund about 1.5 gigawatts of Google's custom TPUs, making it the largest chip financing to date.
The $9 billion from Blackstone funds would be about half of $18 billion in junior debt. Blackstone was offered a 10% coupon, with total returns higher after discounts and fees, compared with roughly 7% for similarly rated borrowers in public bond markets, the FT reported. The other $9 billion of junior debt may be sold to other investors, possibly at lower yields.
The package also includes about $42 billion of senior debt guaranteed by Broadcom, which develops the chips with Google. An earlier deal four months ago raised about $4.4 billion at 8.5%. Anthropic was rated one notch below investment grade by KBRA in June, as covered in the Oct 16 deck.
What to expect next
Watch whether Anthropic or Blackstone confirm the terms, and who buys the remaining $9 billion of junior debt and at what yield.
Also watch whether Anthropic wins an investment grade rating, which the FT says it is seeking to lower borrowing costs, and how its IPO interacts with this debt. The FT says the debt could become tradable in the 144A bond market after it is drawn down in 2027, which would give investors a market price on Anthropic's credit.