Apollo Global Management and Blackstone are working to bring additional investors into a roughly $36 billion debt financing deal to help Anthropic build out its AI infrastructure, Bloomberg reported Thursday, May 28.
The money will be used to buy Google's custom AI chips called TPUs (tensor processing units), the specialised processors that run large AI models. Those chips will then be leased back to Anthropic for use in data centers across New York, Texas, Louisiana, and Indiana.
Broadcom, which co-develops the TPUs with Google, is backstopping payments on the senior portions of the deal, which total roughly $31 billion of the $36 billion. If Anthropic stops paying and the chips cannot cover the debt when sold, Broadcom covers the gap.
Investors are being asked to submit orders this week, with the deal expected to close next week. Discussions are ongoing and terms could still change. Apollo, Blackstone, Anthropic, Google, and Broadcom haven't made a public statement following the report.
Damilare Odedina
How the $36 Billion Chip Deal Connects to the $965 Billion Valuation
The debt financing deal broke the same day Anthropic announced it raised $65 billion in a Series H round, valuing the company at $965 billion. That overtook OpenAI, which was last valued at $852 billion after its $122 billion round in March.
Anthropic's valuation has nearly tripled since February, when it closed a $30 billion Series G at $380 billion. The Series H was led by Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks, and Sequoia Capital, and includes $15 billion in previously committed investments from hyperscalers, with $5 billion of that from Amazon.
The claude maker also disclosed that its run-rate revenue crossed $47 billion earlier this month. Run-rate revenue is the annualised projection based on the most recent month's earnings. That figure was $30 billion in April and $9 billion at the end of 2025.
According to GuruFocus, the Apollo-Blackstone transaction is set to become one of the largest private credit deals in history and the biggest chip financing debt deal ever recorded. Broadcom shares rose 1.9% and Alphabet shares rose 1.2% in after-hours trading after the news broke Thursday.
What Happens Next
Both Anthropic and OpenAI are eyeing potential IPOs as early as this year, according to Reuters. Anthropic has been forced to limit usage during peak hours in recent months due to demand it cannot yet meet. The chip deal, if it closes as expected next week, directly addresses that capacity shortage.
Damilare Odedina
