(Oct 2): Broadcom Inc’s Wall Street syndicate is starting to gather US$60 billion (RM245 billion) of fresh artificial intelligence (AI) chip financing to benefit Anthropic PBC and other companies, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Banks involved in the massive debt package are poised to send out syndication letters for a US$42 billion Class A senior-secured tranche, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing the deal, which has yet to be announced. 

Blackstone Inc is leading an US$18 billion tranche of Class B junior debt, committing US$9 billion from various funds with plans to syndicate the rest, the people said.

A representative for Broadcom declined to comment.

The financing, which has been taking shape for weeks, is being closely watched by professionals across Wall Street and Silicon Valley for reassurance that investors are still keen to back AI’s buildout amid a public backlash against data-centre construction. Broadcom is looking to sell more chips and other data-centre equipment, challenging Nvidia Corp, while AI companies like Anthropic need-ever more computing capacity.

The potential deal would help firms including Anthropic access chips and other key AI infrastructure, people with knowledge of the talks said in August.

It adds to the hundreds of billions of dollars of debt already raised to build out AI infrastructure. While much of that has gone towards data centres, deals financing chips and servers have multiplied, too. 

In August, Nvidia also announced a partnership with six of the biggest names in finance, including Blackstone, to mobilise more than US$500 billion for AI, including helping customers fund their purchases of the company’s chips.

Meanwhile, Blackstone’s investment in Anthropic has helped boost the performance of its private equity fund catering to the wealthy. 

Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee