Broadcom, Oracle and SpaceX Seek Billions in Private Debt for AI Expansion

Major artificial intelligence companies are increasingly turning to private debt markets to finance tens of billions of dollars in AI chips and data center infrastructure, as traditional funding sources struggle to keep pace with soaring capital requirements.

Broadcom, Oracle and SpaceX are among the companies discussing large private financing deals to purchase AI hardware, according to The Wall Street Journal. The funding push highlights the enormous cost of expanding global AI computing capacity and the growing role of private credit firms in supporting the industry.

Broadcom is reportedly seeking a financing package worth more than $50 billion to support production of custom AI chips for OpenAI. Apollo Global Management and Blackstone are involved in early discussions over the potential deal.

Broadcom's custom chip initiative, internally called Nexus, is designed to deploy several gigawatts of computing capacity through 2029. The project comes as major technology companies look for alternatives to Nvidia's widely used AI processors and seek greater control over their infrastructure.

Oracle is also negotiating with Apollo and Goldman Sachs on financing for hardware intended for a 1-gigawatt data center. Under the proposed arrangement, private investors would finance an off-balance-sheet entity that purchases the chips and leases them to Oracle.

Such a structure could help Oracle increase AI computing capacity while limiting additional debt on its corporate balance sheet as it competes with larger hyperscale cloud providers.

SpaceX has separately discussed a roughly $40 billion debt package with lenders to purchase Nvidia processors. Meanwhile, AI developers including OpenAI and Anthropic are increasingly exploring direct ownership of computing infrastructure as they seek to reduce long-term dependence on expensive cloud services.

The surge in financing discussions underscores how AI infrastructure spending is reshaping global capital markets. With several transactions targeted for completion by year-end, private credit funds and investment banks are emerging as crucial sources of financing for the next stage of the AI data center boom.

As public bond markets and corporate cash flows face growing pressure from massive infrastructure requirements, private debt could become an increasingly important financial engine behind global AI expansion.