Apollo Plans $36 Billion Loan to Help Anthropic Acquire Google Chips

Apollo Global Management and Blackstone are partnering with external investors to raise about $36 billion in debt financing to meet the computing power needs for Anthropic PBC's construction of artificial intelligence infrastructure.

This funding will be used by a special purpose company to purchase Google's customized TPU chips and then lease them to Anthropic. The deal has set a new record for the scale of global private credit and chip financing. This comes just after Anthropic has raised $6.5 billion in its latest round of funding, with its valuation rising to $96.5 billion and surpassing OpenAI for the first time. Both companies are currently racing towards their initial public offerings by the end of this year.

As a startup, Anthropic does not have sufficient profits to support such a scale of debt, which is why the deal's core lies in bringing in Broadcom's investment-grade credit.

Broadcom, a partner in Google's development of the chip, will provide a "residual value guarantee" agreement for the largest share of senior debt in this financing. Should Anthropic fail to pay the rent on schedule, the special purpose company will sell the chips to settle the debt. If there is still a shortfall, Broadcom will fully compensate for the losses of senior debt investors.

This financing consists of $6 billion in A1 tranche, $25 billion in A2 tranche, and $4.5 billion in B tranche bonds. The funds will be disbursed gradually in the form of "deferred drawdowns," in line with the arrival of chips and the start of leasing, to support Anthropic's computing power deployment in New York, Texas, and three other states.