Blackstone and Apollo Arrange $36 Billion Chip Financing for Anthropic
Private equity firms Blackstone and Apollo Global Management are leading a debt financing deal to help Anthropic acquire custom-built chips from Google. The $36 billion arrangement will fund Tensor Processing Units that Anthropic plans to lease, according to sources familiar with the transaction.
Broadcom, a key partner in developing Google's chips, is providing payment guarantees for the largest portions of the deal. Apollo is currently seeking additional investors through a debt syndication process, maintaining control over which backers participate.
Both firms plan to offload portions of the debt while keeping meaningful stakes for themselves. Investors have been asked to submit commitments this week, with the deal expected to close the following week, though terms remain subject to change.
If completed as planned, this would rank among the largest private credit deals ever arranged and the largest chip-financing debt transaction on record.
Anthropic's Recent Momentum
Anthropic recently surpassed OpenAI as the world's most valuable startup after raising $65 billion in Series H funding, reaching a $965 billion valuation. Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks, and Sequoia Capital led that round.
"This funding will help us serve the historic demand we are experiencing, stay at the research frontier, and bring Claude to more of the places where work happens," said Krishna Rao, Anthropic's chief financial officer.
The company this week released Claude Opus 4.8, its latest generative AI model, which offers improved performance and new controls for customers and developers. Anthropic is also working on Project Glasswing, an AI-assisted security testing effort involving more than 50 organizations.
For managers evaluating AI infrastructure investments and their strategic implications, understanding AI for management decisions can clarify how large-scale financing shapes competitive positioning in the AI sector.
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