Wall Street Just Cast a Big Doubt on Anthropic’s $800 Billion AI Bet

Blackstone now expects Anthropic to receive a junk credit rating after its record IPO, reversing earlier guidance that the Claude developer would be investment grade by year-end. A rating below BBB- is junk; many pension funds and insurers face caps on holding such debt, which affects borrowing costs for Anthropic’s spending plan worth more than $800 billion. In Anthropic’s $63 billion Project North Star chip financing, Broadcom, an investment-grade chipmaker, guarantees more than $42 billion, while Blackstone funds hold about $9 billion of the $18 billion not guaranteed. KBRA rated Anthropic BB+ in June, and Fitch, Moody’s and S&P have not ruled; their verdict is expected by late November.