Why can't Anthropic buy the chips directly?

Anthropic has no credit rating and cannot secure bank loans large enough for vast amounts of AI hardware, so it must lease the chips instead through financing vehicles funded by outside investors.

How much could Google's actual obligation reach?

Google could face up to $44 billion in obligations if every lease defaults, though the company records only $815 million of that liability on its balance sheet.

What borrowing rate advantage does Google's backing provide?

Data center projects backed by Google borrow at a median interest rate of 7.1 percent, compared with 9.3 percent for neocloud operators relying on Nvidia chips.

AI Business & IndustryTHE DECODERAug 4, 2026Aug 5, 2026, 06:01 JST

Google moves $44 billion in Anthropic chip risk off balance sheet

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3 Key Points

What happened
Google has partnered with Broadcom, Apollo, Blackstone, Morgan Stanley, and crypto mining companies to finance AI chip sales to Anthropic through complex financial structures. A special purpose vehicle called Compute SPV bought about one gigawatt of TPU hardware for $35 billion in June, and Broadcom has committed to $128 billion in Google TPU purchases through 2028. Google is also backing ten crypto mining projects with 2.4 gigawatts of combined capacity to provide power and data centers for the chips.
Why it matters
Anthropic cannot buy chips itself due to lack of a credit rating, and all parties involved want to keep the hardware off their own balance sheets. By using financing vehicles and investor capital, Google records only $815 million in liability while potentially facing up to $44 billion in obligations if leases default. The arrangement is already creating a cost advantage—data center projects backed by Google borrow at a median rate of 7.1 percent versus 9.3 percent for competitors using Nvidia chips, according to Jefferies analysts.
What to watch
The entire structure depends on $200 billion in contracts and Anthropic continuing to make lease payments. Anthropic has committed to spending about $200 billion on Google Cloud over five years, which accounts for more than 40 percent of Google's committed future cloud revenue. Both Anthropic and OpenAI together account for roughly half of the $2 trillion in cloud backlogs at Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Oracle, and both are counting on revenue growing 20 to 30 times by 2029.

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Context & Analysis

Google's move addresses a fundamental problem: Anthropic needs enormous quantities of AI hardware but lacks the financial standing to purchase or finance it alone, and neither Google nor its supply-chain partners want to tie up capital or balance-sheet space on long-term commitments. By creating special financing vehicles funded by private equity firms Apollo and Blackstone, and by partnering with crypto miners already positioned to access large power supplies, Google has engineered a structure that keeps the hardware off everyone's books while maintaining control of the relationship. The arrangement also unlocks a financial advantage—borrowing costs for Google-backed infrastructure are materially lower than for competitors using Nvidia chips, creating what Jefferies analysts describe as a structural cost disadvantage for Nvidia's ecosystem. However, the system carries substantial hidden risk: $200 billion in contracts hinge on Anthropic's ability to sustain extraordinary growth (20 to 30 times revenue by 2029), and Google sits simultaneously as investor, supplier, and cloud provider to the same customer, concentrating exposure across multiple dimensions.

FAQ

Why can't Anthropic buy the chips directly?: Anthropic has no credit rating and cannot secure bank loans large enough for vast amounts of AI hardware, so it must lease the chips instead through financing vehicles funded by outside investors.
How much could Google's actual obligation reach?: Google could face up to $44 billion in obligations if every lease defaults, though the company records only $815 million of that liability on its balance sheet.
What borrowing rate advantage does Google's backing provide?: Data center projects backed by Google borrow at a median interest rate of 7.1 percent, compared with 9.3 percent for neocloud operators relying on Nvidia chips.

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