Oct 30, 2026 · 21 min
Anthropic’s debt deal exposes AI’s financing problem
Is AI Running Out of Money to Borrow?
The arrangement shows how AI companies with huge capital needs and ongoing losses may depend on increasingly complex, interconnected funding structures.
- 1Anthropic needed Broadcom’s credit strength to finance chips that banks were reluctant to fund directly.
- 2A shell-company structure, guarantees and higher interest payments helped assemble $63 billion in debt financing.
- 3Broadcom’s own lending to Anthropic raises concerns that circular financing could magnify losses across the AI industry.
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Anthropic’s filing reveals that Broadcom is also lending to it, exposing the companies’ unusually deep financial interconnection.
The brief
Anthropic needs billions in specialized chips from Broadcom and Google while spending far more than it earns, making conventional borrowing difficult.
Alexander Saidi and Ryan Knutson explain why higher rates, uncertain future cash flow and concentrated AI risk have made banks more cautious.
Broadcom helped bridge the gap through a shell company that bought the chips, borrowed from banks and collected lease payments from Anthropic.
Hock Tan pushed banks to participate with stronger guarantees and higher interest payments, helping Broadcom close a $63 billion financing package.
Anthropic’s filing also showed Broadcom lending to it, raising the possibility that circular financing could inflate valuations and spread losses if the AI bubble breaks.
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