Blackstone & Apollo Strap $36B to Propel AI Power-Huge Chip Deal Exposed!

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Blackstone and Apollo line up $36 billion chip debt deal for Anthropic

Anthropic is arranging a massive $36 billion loan from private credit firms Blackstone and Apollo. The company will use the funds to purchase AI chips from Broadcom, making it one of the biggest debt-financed deals ever.

Summary

  • Apollo and Blackstone are syndicating about $36 billion in debt to finance Google TPUs for Anthropic
  • Broadcom will backstop payments as Anthropic leases the custom chips to fuel its Claude AI models
  • The deal comes as Anthropic’s valuation jumps to $965 billion and its AI revenue run rate accelerates

Apollo Global Management and Blackstone, two of the biggest private equity firms, are arranging about $36 billion in financing for Anthropic. This funding will help Anthropic build the infrastructure needed for its next generation of AI technology, potentially making it one of the largest private financing deals of its kind. According to Reuters, the money will be used to purchase specialized chips from Google, which Anthropic will then rent out as it expands the computing power for its Claude chatbot and other AI models.

The deal, valued at $36 billion, is structured in a way that quickly attracts investors while Apollo and Blackstone plan to hold onto a large part of the debt themselves. Bloomberg reports that Broadcom, a key partner in designing Google’s specialized chips, is guaranteeing payments on the biggest portions of the loan, leveraging its financial strength and existing relationship with Google to reduce risk. Investors are being asked to commit funds this week, and the deal is expected to finalize as soon as next week, though final details are still being worked out.

Massive private credit bet on AI compute

As a researcher following the AI landscape, I’ve been watching Anthropic’s growth closely. Their recent moves demonstrate a significant investment in AI infrastructure, building on previous funding and agreements with major cloud providers. Just this April, they secured access to 3.5 gigawatts of computing power through Google and Broadcom, which will start becoming available in 2027 as part of a larger $50 billion initiative to expand US-based computing resources. Simultaneously, they announced $6.5 billion in new funding, which, at a $965 billion valuation, temporarily puts them ahead of OpenAI in terms of paper value – a clear indication of the increasing demand for their Claude models.

A new chip company recently secured $135 million in funding, believing that the main limitation for artificial intelligence isn’t processing power, but rather the speed and capacity of memory.

— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) May 29, 2026

Anthropic is experiencing rapid growth, with its annual revenue exceeding $30 billion – a significant increase from around $9 billion at the end of 2025. This surge is driven by a growing share of the enterprise API market, jumping from 12% in 2023 to 32% by mid-2025. More and more large companies in finance and industry are incorporating Anthropic’s Claude into their daily operations. However, this growth is happening as regulators are paying close attention to potential risks. In April, US Treasury officials met with bank CEOs to discuss cybersecurity concerns related to Anthropic’s new Claude Mythos model, following internal testing and a code leak that revealed its ability to identify a surprisingly large number of software weaknesses.

Broadcom’s role and the chip supply squeeze

Broadcom’s commitment to cover payments for a significant portion of Anthropic’s chip funding highlights a shift in how AI hardware companies operate. They’re increasingly behaving like financial institutions offering structured financing, rather than simply selling components. Broadcom is already essential to Google’s development of its TPU chips, and will likely play a key role in future chips that Anthropic will offer, including new designs Google is working on with companies like Marvell to boost performance and efficiency.

The recent deal between Blackstone and Apollo is further proof that private equity firms are heavily investing in the infrastructure needed for artificial intelligence. Just earlier this month, Anthropic partnered with firms like Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, Apollo, and Hellman & Friedman to launch a $1.5 billion initiative, as reported by CNBC, to integrate their Claude AI model into various businesses, including those in healthcare and manufacturing. This trend in the crypto world mirrors a pattern where most investment is going to just a few leading AI platforms, while smaller, blockchain-based AI projects struggle to secure funding.

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2026-05-29 17:49