The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the financing boom for artificial intelligence chips is shifting from public bond markets to private credit. Recently, U.S. technology companies including Broadcom and Oracle have been actively advancing large-scale financing to procure AI chips. Oracle and Broadcom are in talks to raise more than $50 billion for a custom AI chip project for OpenAI. Broadcom has held early discussions with private credit firms including Apollo Global Management and Blackstone Group, and the funds will be used for the custom chip project jointly developed by Broadcom and OpenAI.
Analysts note that the current cost of AI infrastructure has exceeded the limits these companies can bear through their own capital and conventional bond issuance. Market analysis suggests that while AI infrastructure financing previously relied primarily on profits and public bonds, private credit firms are now becoming the core funding source for the AI race. The market fears that if revenue growth in the AI-related chip industry falls short of expectations, lenders will directly absorb the losses.
Private Credit Firms Become Primary Funding Source for AI Chip Industry
Meanwhile, Oracle is in talks with Apollo and Goldman Sachs on a dedicated financing arrangement aimed at procuring chips for a 1-gigawatt data center. Sources say Oracle hopes to complete the deal this year and is currently in discussions with multiple potential financing partners.
According to the Financial Times, SpaceX's financing moves have also drawn attention. Sources say SpaceX is in talks with a group of lenders led by Apollo for roughly $40 billion in financing to purchase Nvidia chips, of which about $10 billion would be bank loans and $30 billion investment-grade bonds. Bond fund Pimco participated in discussions among the lenders, and the deal is expected to close in 2027 rather than this year. Both Apollo and Pimco declined to comment, and SpaceX and Nvidia did not immediately respond to media inquiries.
The core market concern is that if revenue growth in the AI-related chip industry falls short of expectations, lenders will directly bear the losses. The current cost of AI infrastructure exceeds what these companies can support through their own capital and conventional bond issuance, making private credit firms the core funding source for the AI race. This also means risk is shifting from technology companies' balance sheets to the loan portfolios of private credit firms.