Equities

A $63 billion deal to lease Broadcom chips to Anthropic leans on Broadcom's backing

Bank of America, Citi, Morgan Stanley and Blackstone will fund a vehicle that buys Broadcom AI chips and leases them to Anthropic. Broadcom backs the senior debt, with peak exposure it puts at $43 billion.

By Robert Harrison · Oct 27, 2026, 6:50 AM EDT · Updated Oct 27, 2026, 5:45 PM EDT

Why it matters: Broadcom backs the senior debt, and Bloomberg reports banks plan to sell up to about $21 billion of high-grade bonds as soon as early 2027.

For information only, not investment advice. Prices delayed.

Tickers: AVGO, BAC, BX, C, MS

Banks plan to sell as much as about $21 billion of high-grade bonds, as soon as early next year, as part of the $63 billion package financing Broadcom ($AVGO) chips for Anthropic, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Those people say the banks are lending about $42 billion, and other banks are expected to join the group. A Reuters brief on the report notes that Reuters hasn't verified it.

IFR reported earlier this month that the Broadcom-backstopped senior loans total $42 billion, in two $21 billion tranches.

Bank of America ($BAC), Blackstone ($BX), Citi ($C) and Morgan Stanley ($MS) announced a $63 billion financing on Monday to buy Broadcom AI chips and networking gear for Anthropic. Reuters called it one of the largest debt deals tied to the AI buildout.

Per the companies, a newly formed special purpose vehicle buys Broadcom's XPU accelerators and networking gear and leases them to Anthropic, with deliveries expected from calendar 2027. The three banks are arranging the first-lien debt; Blackstone is the sole provider of the committed part of the second lien. Sullivan & Cromwell, Broadcom's law firm, advised it on the deal.

The catch: who carries the risk. Broadcom is giving the vehicle residual value support equal to the first-lien portion, effectively a significant guarantee, as Reuters put it. Citing two sources, Reuters sized the first lien at about $43.5 billion, or 69% of the total. Broadcom's investor presentation puts its peak exposure under that support at $43 billion, which it expects to decline to zero, and says it is not a direct cash outlay. In a filing Tuesday, Broadcom called the backstop a contingent liability it believes has a low probability of occurring.

Broadcom CEO Hock Tan's take: "This validates that there is capital available to finance such growth and that Broadcom is uniquely positioned to enable it."

Moody's called Broadcom one of the strongest large technology companies but warned the risk would rise if multiple such deals came over a short period, Reuters reported. Reuters also noted an earlier deal: Apollo and Blackstone agreed to finance a $35 billion Anthropic expansion, with a Broadcom backstop of up to $29 billion. Anthropic filed for its IPO the same day.

Tags: ai · semiconductors · banks