Anthropic's credit rating revealed for first time: BB+, highest junk tier, as $60 billion financing looms
Anthropic's credit rating has surfaced for the first time. Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) assigned the AI company a "BB+" issuer rating in June, placing it at the top of the speculative-grade (junk) category—just one notch below investment grade. The rating had never been publicly disclosed before, and its emergence comes at a critical juncture as Anthropic prepares for a November initial public offering (IPO). Credit quality will be a core variable determining its future financing costs and the breadth of its investor base.
According to documents obtained by the Financial Times, KBRA's BB+ rating carries a stable outlook and covers roughly $4.4 billion of subordinated debt within a $35 billion chip-financing package led by Apollo Global Management. Investors in this tranche must directly bear Anthropic's credit risk, while the remainder of the financing is guaranteed by chipmaker Broadcom.
On financing terms, the subordinated debt was issued at a yield of approximately 8.5%, while senior debt carries a rate of 5.75%. Notably, KBRA had access to fairly limited financial information when making its rating decision. Anthropic provided data covering revenue, adjusted operating income, annualized operating income for the first quarter of 2026, and internal second-quarter performance projections—but key metrics such as free cash flow and EBITDA were excluded from disclosure. Rating analysts had to rely on assumptions and self-generated estimates, ultimately using a "risk score" approach in place of a traditional full financial model to assess creditworthiness.
Financing footprint keeps expanding
Anthropic's financing needs are ballooning at a staggering pace. Multiple Wall Street banks are preparing a $60 billion financing package to help the company secure more custom AI chips co-developed by Google parent Alphabet and Broadcom, including $18 billion in subordinated debt. Additionally, people familiar with the matter said Anthropic may issue up to $42 billion in convertible notes to pay for leasing semiconductors from Broadcom, though KBRA was not provided with detailed terms of those convertible notes.
If Anthropic can cross the investment-grade threshold, it would gain access to lower financing costs and a broader institutional investor base including life insurers and pension funds. Currently, the three major rating agencies—Moody's, S&P Global Ratings, and Fitch Ratings—remain the final arbiters of Anthropic's official credit rating once it goes public. Banking advisers for both Anthropic and rival OpenAI have been lobbying the three agencies to secure investment-grade ratings after the companies list.
As of end-June, the five-year-old AI company had no debt on its own balance sheet. Previously, Anthropic arranged financing primarily through business partners with stronger credit profiles and special purpose vehicles (SPVs). At the time KBRA made its rating decision, Anthropic had not yet completed the $35 billion chip-financing transaction.
Valuation expectations cool off
At an investor presentation held at its San Francisco headquarters on October 14 ahead of the IPO, Anthropic disclosed that third-quarter revenue grew 45% from the prior quarter to $16.8 billion, marking a second consecutive quarter of adjusted profitability. Attendees included representatives from the company's most important institutional investors, who met with CEO Dario Amodei and CFO Krishna Rao.
However, some existing investors and prospective IPO participants were disappointed by the deceleration in revenue growth, with discussions centering on a valuation of around $1.5 trillion—well below the $2 trillion that had been widely expected. Second-quarter revenue more than doubled from the first quarter to $11.6 billion, while the 45% sequential growth in Q3 marks a significant slowdown in the growth trajectory.
Market research firm P Equity Research put it bluntly: "Anthropic's numbers are good, but not good enough." From a monthly run-rate perspective, the company's annualized revenue run-rate had already reached $65 billion by end-July, while the monthly growth implied by Q3 data has plunged from a roughly 33% compound monthly pace to a single-digit range of 3.4% to 6.6%.
| Quarter | Revenue ($B) | QoQ Growth |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 2026 | 4.7 | — |
| Q2 2026 | 11.6 | ~147% |
| Q3 2026 | 16.8 | 45% |
Note: Data from investor day disclosures and Reuters reports
Ripple effects across the AI financing ecosystem
If Anthropic's IPO falls short of expectations, it could drag down overall AI market sentiment. Investors believe the near-term outlook for the AI industry depends to a significant degree on whether Anthropic's listing succeeds, followed by OpenAI's potential debut next year.
Concerns about rising financing costs for AI infrastructure are intensifying. Nvidia-backed CoreWeave (CRWV) saw its stock and bonds tumble in tandem on Thursday, reflecting growing investor anxiety that AI infrastructure expansion is increasingly reliant on debt financing. The five-year default probability implied by CoreWeave's credit default swap (CDS) market has climbed to 63%. A disappointing Anthropic equity offering could further deepen doubts about the sustainability of AI infrastructure investment.
The IPO market itself has been rocky. Data center operator SB Energy decided last month to postpone its listing, while nuclear technology firm Holtec Nuclear scrapped its IPO plans. At the macro level, the S&P 500 fell 1.11% the day before earnings, the Nasdaq 100 dropped 2.02%, and emerging cloud-computing stocks plunged more than 12% in a single day.
The foundation of Anthropic's rapid growth rests on the dual role played by Alphabet's Google and Amazon—both are investors in and compute providers for Anthropic, as well as key channel partners, while simultaneously competing with it in AI. In 2025, 47% of Anthropic's revenue came through the AWS and Google Cloud channels.
Massive spending commitments and the quality of earnings
Anthropic has committed to spending at least $518 billion over the next decade on cloud services, compute, and infrastructure, with roughly 80% of contractual commitments non-cancellable. This enormous capital expenditure plan is viewed as a key pillar supporting the AI investment boom in US equities, but it also means the company must continue generating sufficient revenue to shoulder long-term costs.
In 2025, Anthropic's full-year revenue grew 12-fold to nearly $4.6 billion, but operating losses exceeded $8 billion and net losses approached $42 billion, of which roughly $34 billion was financing-related accounting charges. The third quarter's "adjusted profitability," while signaling operational improvement, typically excludes stock-based compensation, asset impairments, and other specified items—differing significantly from net income calculated under generally accepted accounting principles. Full GAAP financials are expected to be disclosed with the public prospectus.
Revenue recognition differences also merit attention. Anthropic uses a near-"gross revenue" approach, booking the full amount customers pay through cloud platforms as revenue and then recording the portion shared with cloud providers as an expense. OpenAI, by contrast, recognizes only the net amount after revenue-sharing in some comparable transactions. This makes the two companies' top-line figures difficult to compare directly.
For Anthropic, whether it can secure an investment-grade rating after the IPO will affect not only financing costs but also its ability to raise enormous capital in the future. With third-quarter revenue growth decelerating and token prices continuing to decline, this AI upstart needs to find a firmer balance between its growth narrative and financial discipline.