Anthropic正推动一项名为「北极星计划」（Project North Star）的600亿美元债务融资案，旨在采购Google开发的约1.5吉瓦客制化张量处理单元（TPU）晶片。这预计将成为迄今规模最大的晶片融资案，并在贷款机构对科技企业庞大资本支出与借贷日益感到担忧之际，成为测试投资人对AI债务胃纳量的关键指标。

在此融资架构中，黑石集团（Blackstone）旗下基金预计将投资90亿美元于由Anthropic五年期晶片租赁付款担保的次级贷款，占180亿美元次级债务总额的一半；其余420亿美元则为由协助Google开发晶片的博通（Broadcom）所担保的优先债务。Anthropic向黑石提供高达10%的票面利率，计入新发行折价与相关费用后的总回报率甚至超过10%，远高于公开债券市场中同级别借款人约7%的殖利率，也高于该公司四个月前在「大天空计划」（Project Big Sky）中以8.5%利率发行的44亿美元债务。

借贷成本的上升凸显出在科技业短期内面临庞大资金需求下，投资人要求更高的风险溢价来为AI基础设施融资，同时科技公司也必须支付更高代价以吸引锚定投资人参与巨额融资。尽管成立五年的Anthropic在今年六月仅获KBRA给予低于投资级别一级的信评，但黑石向合作伙伴表示，随著Anthropic未来上市并有望获得投资级信评以大幅降低借贷成本，此次交易是赚取高收益的难得机会，而该笔债务在2027年动用后也可能在机构144A债券市场进行交易。

Anthropic is advancing a $60 billion debt financing package dubbed "Project North Star" to fund the procurement of approximately 1.5 gigawatts of custom tensor processing units (TPUs) developed by Google. Expected to be the largest chip financing deal to date, the transaction serves as a critical test of investor appetite for AI debt at a time when lenders are growing increasingly cautious about heavy capital expenditures and borrowing by technology companies.

Under the financing structure, Blackstone funds will invest $9 billion in junior loans backed by Anthropic's five-year chip lease payments, accounting for half of the $18 billion junior debt tranche, while the remaining $42 billion consists of senior debt guaranteed by Broadcom, which co-develops the chips with Google. Anthropic offered Blackstone a 10 per cent coupon—yielding an even higher total return over 10 per cent after factoring in new-issue discounts and fees—which significantly exceeds both the typical 7 per cent public market yield for similarly rated borrowers and the 8.5 per cent rate Anthropic paid four months ago on its $4.4 billion "Project Big Sky" debt deal.

The rising borrowing costs underscore investors' demand for higher risk premiums to fund rapid, large-scale AI build-outs, as well as the steep prices tech firms must pay to secure anchor investors for mega-financings. Although five-year-old Anthropic received a credit rating one notch below investment grade from KBRA in June, Blackstone told its partners that this deal represents a rare opportunity to capture high yields before Anthropic goes public, achieves an expected investment-grade rating, and lowers its borrowing costs, with the debt potentially becoming tradeable in the institutional 144A bond market once drawn down in 2027.