Broadcom AI chips get $63 billion financing: Wall Street banks buy the gear, lease it to Anthropic

Bank of America, Blackstone, Citi and Morgan Stanley announced on October 26 that they will provide $63 billion in financing to buy Broadcom's AI chips and networking equipment and lease them to Anthropic, in one of the largest debt deals tied to the AI buildout.

How the deal works

The transaction will run through a newly formed special purpose vehicle that purchases Broadcom's AI accelerators and networking equipment and leases them to the maker of Claude. Bank of America, Citi and Morgan Stanley are arranging the first-lien financing, while Blackstone will provide the committed portion of the second-lien financing.

Notably, Broadcom itself is part of the financing structure: the chipmaker will provide 'residual value support' to senior debt lenders, effectively guaranteeing them against declines in the value of the equipment, up to an amount equal to the first-lien debt. The announcement did not disclose the size of that first-lien debt. In other words, Broadcom is not just selling hardware; it is standing behind the future value of its own products.

Deliveries from 2027, as Anthropic files for IPO the same day

Deliveries are expected to begin in 2027 as part of a previously announced strategic compute capacity agreement involving Broadcom. Apollo and Blackstone had earlier agreed to finance a $35 billion expansion of Anthropic's AI computing capacity with Broadcom, and this deal adds to that commitment.

On the same day, Anthropic also filed paperwork for an initial public offering. Surging AI demand is driving massive investment in computing infrastructure, and banks and alternative asset managers are playing a growing role in financing it.

What to watch

The market will now watch for the size of the first-lien debt, the lease terms, and Anthropic's IPO progress. Whether this structure becomes a template for AI compute financing will depend on equipment delivery and how fast Anthropic can absorb the new capacity.