Blackstone Warns Anthropic Could Get a Junk Credit Rating After Its IPO
The anchor investor in Anthropic's $63 billion Project North Star chip financing now expects a double-B rating, the Financial Times reports, reversing earlier investment-grade guidance.
Published
Last updated / Fact-checked on
Blackstone has told investors in Anthropic's $63 billion chip financing that the Claude maker is likely to get a "high" junk credit rating after its IPO, not investment grade, the Financial Times reported on October 30. It is a forecast; S&P, Moody's and Fitch have not rated Anthropic.
Photo: Sergei Tokmakov / Pixabay
What changed
Blackstone is the anchor investor in the deal, known as Project North Star, and is working with the banks that funded it to sell the debt on to other investors, according to the FT report as republished by Spain's Expansión. In recent months Blackstone had told partners it expected Anthropic to reach investment grade. TechCrunch, summarizing the FT, said that earlier guidance pointed to an investment-grade rating before 2027.
Blackstone now says Anthropic is more likely to land in the double-B range or above, based on guidance from the major rating agencies, according to people familiar with the matter cited by the FT. Double-B (BB+, BB and BB-) is the top tier of speculative grade, one step below the BBB- floor of investment grade at S&P and Fitch.
Inside Project North Star
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Total financing | $63 billion |
| Senior loans guaranteed by Broadcom | More than $42 billion |
| Junior (subordinated) debt | $18 billion |
| Blackstone funds' junior stake | $9 billion, yield above 10% |
| KBRA rating on junior debt | BB+, positive outlook |
| Morningstar DBRS rating on junior debt | BB |
| Big Three rating on Anthropic | None issued |
Banks closed the deal this week. It funds Anthropic's lease of 1.5 gigawatts of Google chips, according to the FT via Expansión. Broadcom, which co-develops the chips and holds an investment-grade rating, guarantees the senior loans. The junior debt is backed by Anthropic's lease payments, so its lenders carry more direct exposure to Anthropic's own credit.
Kroll Bond Rating Agency's BB+ with a positive outlook is a slight improvement on the stable outlook KBRA gave a similar deal, Project Big Sky, four months earlier, the reports say. Morningstar DBRS's BB on the same debt was reported by people familiar with the matter.
Why a rating matters for an $800 billion plan
In its IPO prospectus, Anthropic laid out plans to spend more than $800 billion on computing infrastructure through 2045. An investment-grade rating would let it borrow more cheaply to pay for that.
A junk rating narrows the pool of lenders. Many pension funds and insurers face limits on large positions in junk-rated borrowers. That could keep Anthropic dependent on highly rated suppliers such as Broadcom to backstop its debt, the FT report said.
Bankers for Anthropic and rival OpenAI have lobbied the major agencies to grant investment-grade ratings after their IPOs, according to the FT.
The company's numbers
Anthropic holds more than $112 billion in cash and equivalents, and investors expect the IPO to raise about $100 billion more. BigGo Finance, summarizing the prospectus, reports first-half 2026 revenue of $16.3 billion and a net loss of $80.7 billion. Management attributes the loss to an increase in the fair value of convertible bonds. BigGo also reports more than 1,900 customers each paying at least $1 million a year as of September 30.
Anthropic filed for its IPO on Monday, October 26, and BigGo reports it could list on Nasdaq under the ticker "ANT" as soon as next month. Our earlier coverage of Anthropic's S-1 filing has more on the prospectus.
What to watch
- First Big Three ratings. S&P, Moody's or Fitch would settle the question. Blackstone's view is only an expectation.
- Pricing of new debt. If Anthropic borrows again before an investment-grade rating, watch whether the yield on its junior debt stays above 10%.
- Supplier guarantees. Watch whether future deals keep leaning on Broadcom-style backing.
- IPO timing. A November listing would test demand amid AI-bubble worries. BigGo reports the Nasdaq 100 fell 3.5% on October 30.
More coverage is on our Artificial Intelligence hub.
How we reported this
The FT article is paywalled. We confirmed its headline and date on the FT's Anthropic topic page and read its full text through Expansión's licensed Spanish translation. We cross-checked figures against TechCrunch, BigGo Finance and Capital Side Notes. Financial figures from the prospectus come from BigGo's summary, and we label them that way.
Published and fact-checked October 31, 2026.
Sources
- Financial Times, Anthropic topic page (headline: "Anthropic may not secure investment-grade rating after IPO, Blackstone says," Oct. 30, 2026): https://www.ft.com/stream/15c0cb45-8892-46cd-a086-1d2716ae7246
- Expansión (Financial Times translation), "Anthropic podría no obtener el grado de inversión tras su OPV, según Blackstone": https://www.expansion.com/economia/financial-times/2026/10/30/anthropic-podria-obtener-calificacion-grado-inversion-opv.html
- TechCrunch, "Anthropic expected to receive high 'junk' rating from credit agencies following IPO, FT report says": https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/30/anthropic-expected-to-receive-high-junk-rating-from-credit-agencies-following-ipo-report-says/
- BigGo Finance, "Blackstone Warns Anthropic May Land 'Junk' Rating After IPO": https://finance.biggo.com/news/baa446e6-39a5-4958-bba3-93cf1bd46687
- Capital Side Notes, "Anthropic IPO: Blackstone warns AI firm may receive junk credit rating: report": https://capitalsidenotes.com/stock/anthropic-ipo-blackstone-warns-ai-firm-may-receive-junk-credit-rating-report/
DailyMech used AI tools to help research and draft this article; it was fact-checked by our editors.