摩根士丹利与高盛等投行正代表 Anthropic 与 OpenAI 积极向各大信评机构游说，争取在两家公司首次公开发行（IPO）后迅速取得投资级信用评等。这两家领先的人工智慧实验室期望借由公开上市释放庞大流动性并改善资产负债表，进而进入规模达 11.7 兆美元的公司债市场，以大幅压低其庞大 AI 基础设施计划的融资与借贷成本。

取得投资级评等对仍处于亏损且自由现金流尚未转正的 AI 实验室而言将是重大里程碑，这不仅能吸引养老基金和保险机构等保守型投资人，也能减轻辉达、甲骨文、Google 及博通等合作伙伴高达数千亿美元的信用担保负担。然而，评级机构目前仍将两家公司视为投机级别，并在考量持续攀升的债务负担与外部竞争风险下，倾向等待 IPO 实际成果与具体财务细节出炉再做评断。

华尔街此举被视为打破过往科技巨头需历经十余年才能获得顶级评等的惯例，而今年六月上市并立即取得投资级评等的 SpaceX 便是一大前例。然而，SpaceX 在上市后发行的 250 亿美元债券随即遭遇抛售，这也为债券投资人敲响了警钟，显示在缺乏稳固自由现金流支撑下过早大举举债发债所蕴含的市场风险。

Bankers from Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are lobbying credit rating agencies on behalf of Anthropic and OpenAI to secure post-IPO investment-grade credit ratings. The two leading artificial intelligence labs aim to leverage their upcoming public listings to unlock vast liquidity and strengthen their balance sheets, granting them favorable access to the $11.7 trillion corporate bond market to lower borrowing costs for their ambitious AI infrastructure expansions.

Attaining an investment-grade rating would be a remarkable feat for these unprofitable AI labs that have yet to generate positive free cash flow, offering significant relief to tech partners like Nvidia, Oracle, Google, and Broadcom, which have provided hundreds of billions of dollars in credit guarantees. Nevertheless, rating agency analysts currently still view both firms as deep in speculative grade, preferring to examine concrete IPO results and detailed financial disclosures amid mounting debt loads and competitive risks.

This lobbying effort reflects Wall Street's willingness to challenge historical norms where tech giants waited decades for top-tier ratings, following the precedent set by SpaceX's immediate investment-grade debut in June. However, the subsequent sell-off of SpaceX’s $25 billion bond issuance shortly after its market debut serves as a stark cautionary tale for debt investors regarding the premature issuance of debt without proven financial stability. (Key numbers: 250)