AI Financing Costs Climb: Anthropic Plans to Offer Blackstone Over 10% Yield

Anthropic is advancing its largest-ever chip financing at a funding cost far above market benchmarks, reflecting the increasingly high capital costs behind the AI infrastructure arms race. According to a Financial Times report on the 17th, Anthropic is offering Blackstone a yield of over 10% in exchange for the latter's participation in this debt financing, code-named "Project North Star," with a total scale of up to $60 billion. People familiar with the matter revealed that a Blackstone fund will subscribe to $9 billion of it, accounting for about half of the $18 billion in subordinated loans, and will receive a 10% coupon; after including the new-issue discount and other fees, the actual total return will be even higher. The scale of this financing is expected to set a record in chip financing history and will become an important bellwether for measuring investors' appetite for AI debt. It is worth noting that just four months ago, Anthropic completed approximately $4.4 billion in financing code-named "Project Big Sky" at an 8.5% interest rate. The rapid climb in borrowing costs highlights growing investor caution toward the intensive financing needs of AI companies. $60 Billion Financing Deal: Record Scale, Costs Surge in Tandem "Project North Star" aims to fund Anthropic's procurement of approximately 1.5 gigawatts of custom semiconductors developed by Googlenamely tensor processing units (TPUs). The overall debt structure is divided into two tiers: approximately $42 billion in senior debt, guaranteed by Broadcom, which participates in chip development; and the remaining $18 billion in subordinated loans, of which Blackstone will subscribe to $9 billion, with the remaining share to be sold to a broader group of investors in the coming months, possibly at a rate lower than the terms obtained by Blackstone. It is expected that after the funds are fully drawn in 2027, this portion of the debt will circulate in the institutional 144A bond market. Blackstone declined to comment, and Anthropic did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Premium Exceeds 300 Basis Points, Highlighting Demand for Risk Premium According to the ICE BofA BB U.S. High Yield Index, borrowers with credit profiles similar to Anthropic typically pay yields of about 7% in the public bond market. The 10% coupon Anthropic is offering Blackstone this time is more than 300 basis points above that benchmark, and if the discount and fees are included, the actual yield gap is even larger. This premium reflects pressure on two fronts: first, investors are becoming more cautious about the massive financing needs concentratedly released by technology companies in the short term and are demanding higher risk compensation; second, large financing transactions usually need to offer additional premiums to anchor investors and early commitments to ensure the deal closes smoothly. The rapid rise in borrowing costs also complicates Anthropic's path toward obtaining an investment-grade rating. Rating agency KBRA rated Anthropic one notch below investment grade in June this year, and this subordinated debt is expected to receive a similar rating. Strategic Positioning Before IPO: High-Cost Financing in Exchange for Long-Term Cost Reduction Despite the high financing costs, Anthropic still chooses to bear the pressure proactively, and there is a clear strategic logic behind this. According to media reports citing people familiar with the matter, Blackstone has told its investment partners that this transaction is a rare opportunity to invest in Anthropic-related debt at a high-yield levelonce Anthropic completes its listing, it is expected to obtain an investment-grade rating, at which point its financing costs will drop significantly. This narrative is essentially a time arbitrage: before listing, Anthropic exchanges a higher interest rate for the necessary computing power reserves, and bets that an improved credit rating after listing will bring refinancing room, thereby diluting long-term capital costs. For early investors such as Blackstone, it is about locking in above-market returns during the risk window. The current financing is both a funding guarantee for Anthropic's scale expansion and a key stress test of whether the AI industry's debt financing market can continue to absorb large-volume transactions. This article is reprinted from "Wallstreetcn," author: Zhang Yaqi; GMTEight editor: Yan Wencai.