Anthropic offers Blackstone double-digit yield in chip-financing deal: What the $60 billion deal entails

Anthropic is offering Blackstone a yield of more than 10% to finance a $60 billion artificial intelligence (AI) chip deal, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The deal is touted to be the largest chip-financing arrangement to date.

Known as Project North Star, the financing will support Anthropic’s acquisition of approximately 1.5 gigawatts of Google’s custom tensor processing units (TPUs), as AI developers race to secure computing capacity.

Blackstone-managed funds are expected to invest $9 billion in junior debt backed by Anthropic’s five-year chip lease payments. This represents half of the planned $18 billion junior financing.

The investment firm has been offered a 10% coupon, with total returns exceeding that level after accounting for issuance discounts and fees. By comparison, similarly rated borrowers typically pay yields of around 7% in public bond markets. The remaining $9 billion in junior debt is expected to be offered to other investors in the coming months, potentially at lower yields.

How is the deal structured?

The financing package also includes approximately $42 billion in senior debt guaranteed by Broadcom, which collaborates with Google on chip development.

The deal follows Anthropic’s Project Big Sky financing, through which the company raised around $4.4 billion at an 8.5% interest rate four months ago. The higher borrowing cost in the latest arrangement reflects growing investor demands for compensation amid concerns over rising AI infrastructure spending.

Anthropic received a credit rating one notch below investment grade from KBRA in June, and the new junior debt is expected to receive a similar assessment. The company is seeking investment-grade status to lower future borrowing costs.

The debt could become tradable in the institutional 144A bond market after the financing is drawn down in 2027.

Anthropic open talks with NYC Comptroller

Earlier this week, Anthropic opened a line of communication with New York City Comptroller Mark Levine, following his letter calling for the artificial intelligence lab to delay its initial public offering.

“It does appear they are under pressure from multiple sides right now,” Levine said in an interview on Bloomberg Television on Friday. He couldn’t characterise the discussions with Anthropic, he said.

Levine’s letter dated Wednesday, addressed to Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei, urged the company to pause the listing process until it fully and transparently addresses the AI safety and governance concerns it has raised. It said last month’s morally binding safety accord with the Trump administration and AI companies, including Anthropic, was insufficient to meet the moment.

“If they go public and then there is a catastrophic safety incident, beyond, far beyond what we’ve seen right now, that would be terrible for their stock,” Levine said in the interview.

“Much better to take a little more time right now and get this done,” Levine said.

The comptroller looks after the city’s fiscal health and oversees public pension funds with more than $325 billion in assets. Some of those funds are invested in index-tracking funds, according to Levine, who said they assume “the indexes will rush Anthropic in.”