Sep. 16 at 10:20 PM
A group of 10 banks is arranging a
$22 billion loan to finance Crux AI, a new cloud-computing company jointly created by Blackstone and Alphabet. The financing ranks among the largest debt deals organized to fund the specialized processors needed for large-scale AI operations.
The proceeds will be used to purchase Google-made Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), with the loan backed by the value of the chips as well as Crux AI’s customer contracts, according to Bloomberg News. Goldman Sachs, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, Barclays, BNP Paribas and Bank of Nova Scotia are among the participating lenders, while the banking group is working to bring additional lenders into the deal through syndication.
The structure highlights the growing use of debt financing to fund AI infrastructure as companies face enormous upfront costs for chips and data centers. The debt could eventually be refinanced with longer-term funding from institutional investors through the investment-grade bond market.
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