Anthropic's $60B Chip Deal Carries 10% Coupon as AI Infrastructure Financing Costs Surge

Anthropic is advancing a $60 billion chip financing package, dubbed Project North Star, to lease roughly 1.5GW of Google TPU compute, with Blackstone reportedly set to subscribe to $9 billion of subordinated notes carrying a 10% coupon — a sharp rise in borrowing costs for AI infrastructure. The financing comprises $42 billion in senior debt guaranteed by Broadcom and $18 billion in subordinated debt. The 10% coupon compares with roughly 8.5% on Anthropic's "Big Sky" subordinated issuance four months earlier, and sits more than 300 basis points above the ICE BofA BB high-yield index near 7%. KBRA assigned a BB+ rating, one notch below investment grade; the three major agencies have not issued formal investment-grade ratings. Anthropic reported $16.8 billion in third-quarter 2026 revenue and adjusted profitability, but its long-term compute and infrastructure commitments exceed $500 billion. Rothschild & Co managing partner Robert Leitao said such off-balance-sheet structures amount to a "highly concentrated bet" on future earnings. Goldman Sachs strategist Amanda Lynam tallied $106 billion in US corporate bond issuance for AI and data-center buildout this year, nearly triple the prior year's total.