Apollo Lands Record $35B AI Credit Deal, Bypassing Wall Street Banks

Apollo Global Management, an alternative asset manager long known for real-estate and credit investing, has moved aggressively into insurance-backed corporate lending—territory traditionally held by JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup. In recent weeks, Apollo arranged a record $35 billion（約5.6兆円） private-credit financing for Broadcom, a chipmaker funding artificial intelligence infrastructure, and Anthropic, an AI company. The transaction was structured through Apollo's Atlas SP unit and involved co-investors, including Blackstone, another large alternative asset manager.

What distinguishes the deal is its structure. Apollo designed the financing to keep the debt off Broadcom's balance sheet while maintaining a guarantee from the company—a mechanism that allows both Broadcom and Anthropic to finance their AI ambitions without relying entirely on conventional corporate borrowing. Apollo claimed it was the only lender capable of committing the full $35 billion（約5.6兆円）, and the agreement closed within weeks. This structure builds on a template Apollo developed in 2022 for Intel, a semiconductor manufacturer facing billions in capital needs for a major factory expansion. In that deal, Apollo used capital from Athene, its insurance business, and other funds to invest $11.2 billion（約1.8兆円） for a 49% stake in a joint venture controlling an Intel semiconductor facility in Ireland. That structure allowed Intel to treat the cash injection as equity and preserve its investment-grade rating from S&P Global Ratings; Apollo generated a $3 billion（約4800億円） gain from the investment within two years.

The success of the Intel model has made it a blueprint. Apollo has since completed dozens of similar transactions totaling more than $100 billion（約16兆円）, involving companies such as Anheuser-Busch InBev, a global brewer; Air France-KLM, an international airline group; BP, an energy company; and Vonovia, Germany's largest residential landlord. Apollo now oversees more than $1 trillion（約160兆円） in assets and originated a record $309 billion（約49兆円） of loans in 2025. CEO Marc Rowan said the firm had a chance of approaching $100 billion（約16兆円） of originations in the second quarter. The firm has disclosed a pipeline of more than $100 billion（約16兆円） for these structured transactions and estimates that as much as $100 trillion（約16000兆円） may be required in coming decades to support digital infrastructure and global power demand. Apollo is also expanding its credit-trading operation, having traded $15 billion（約2.4兆円） of private assets through the end of the first quarter, further increasing its competition with traditional banks. The firm's permanent capital from Athene provides a structural advantage—it can commit large sums without forcing syndication or relying on short-term funding—though Apollo must continue finding highly rated assets to meet the insurer's investment needs.

Apollo's $35 billion（約5.6兆円） Broadcom-Anthropic deal represents the culmination of a strategy the firm has executed over three years: using insurance-backed capital to structure large corporate financings that keep debt off clients' balance sheets while protecting their credit ratings. The model traces to Intel in 2022, when Apollo invested $11.2 billion（約1.8兆円） as equity in a joint venture controlling an Intel semiconductor facility, allowing Intel to treat the cash as equity and preserve its investment-grade status with S&P Global Ratings. That deal's $3 billion（約4800億円） gain within two years validated the approach, and Apollo has since deployed it at scale across dozens of Fortune 500 companies—Anheuser-Busch InBev, Air France-KLM, BP, and Vonovia among them—accumulating more than $100 billion（約16兆円） in structured transactions.

The firm's advantage rests on permanent capital from Athene, its insurance subsidiary, which can underwrite the complexity and size of these financings without forcing Apollo to syndicate or rely on short-term funding. For AI infrastructure specifically—where Broadcom and Anthropic face multibillion-dollar capital needs—this structure allows both companies to expand without jeopardizing their debt ratings or maxing out conventional credit lines. Apollo's assertion that it was the "only lender capable of committing the full $35 billion（約5.6兆円）" reflects the scarcity of balance sheets large and diverse enough to absorb such commitments; traditional banks face different capital constraints and regulatory pressures.

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