• Anthropic reportedly received a BB+ credit rating from Kroll Bond Rating Agency—the highest speculative-grade tier—just weeks before filing for a Nasdaq (NDAQ) IPO.
  • The company disclosed $6.2 billion in current debt, a $15 billion revolving credit facility, and $321 billion of leases not yet commenced.
  • A new $63 billion chip-financing deal with Broadcom (AVGO) and Blackstone (BX) underscores the growing role of private credit in AI infrastructure.

Anthropic’s credit profile is coming into sharper focus—and the picture is more complex than a single headline suggests. The Financial Times reported on October 16 that Kroll Bond Rating Agency assigned the AI developer a BB+ issuer rating in June, placing it one notch below investment grade. That “high junk” designation signals meaningful credit risk, even as the company’s revenue explodes.

The rating disclosure lands just days before Anthropic’s October 26 IPO filing, which revealed plans to list on Nasdaq under the ticker “ANT.” The filing also pulled back the curtain on a balance sheet that is both richly capitalized and heavily obligated: $6.2 billion of current debt as of June 30, a $15 billion revolving credit facility arranged in September, and a staggering $321 billion of leases that have not yet commenced.

Those figures are not interchangeable, and analysts caution against lumping them together. The $321 billion lease obligation, for instance, represents future commitments rather than immediate cash drain. Still, the scale of the numbers illustrates the capital intensity of the AI arms race—and why credit markets are suddenly paying close attention to a company that was until recently viewed primarily through the lens of venture valuations.

A Financing Juggernaut

The junk rating does not apply to every slice of Anthropic’s capital structure. In June, the company closed a $35 billion computing transaction known as “Big Sky,” which was structured through a separate corporate vehicle. Most of that financing carried Broadcom’s support and received an investment-grade rating. But roughly $4.4 billion of junior debt in that deal exposed lenders more directly to Anthropic’s own credit risk, according to the FT.

A second megadeal announced October 26 follows a similar template. The $63 billion arrangement will fund Broadcom chips and networking equipment leased to Anthropic, with deliveries expected to begin in 2027. Broadcom provides residual-value support for senior lenders, while Blackstone is supplying the committed portion of the second-lien financing. The structure allows Anthropic to secure massive computing capacity without necessarily shouldering the full burden of investment-grade-level borrowing costs on its own balance sheet.

“What institutional investors like us are really focused on is regulatory stability,” said a person familiar with the financing discussions, speaking on condition of anonymity. “But in AI infrastructure, the credit question is less about regulation and more about whether the revenue trajectory can support the commitments.”

That question is central to the IPO story. Anthropic’s first-half 2026 revenue reached $16.3 billion, up roughly fourteenfold from $1.16 billion a year earlier. Operating cash flow turned positive at $3.9 billion, a sharp reversal from negative $1.5 billion in the prior-year period. Yet the company also posted a net loss of $80.7 billion, driven largely by $72.4 billion in noncash financing-related accounting charges—a figure that reflects the accounting treatment of its complex capital structure rather than cash burn.

Operating loss narrowed to $693 million from about $2.1 billion a year earlier, and adjusted operating income came in at roughly $1.6 billion. Those numbers suggest improving underlying economics, but they also exclude several expenses and are not equivalent to GAAP profitability.

The Investment-Grade Prize

For Anthropic, the difference between BB+ and BBB- is more than a label. Its September revolving credit facility includes provisions that release guarantees and security interests if the company secures investment-grade ratings from at least two of the three major agencies. Pricing on the facility also steps down with rating upgrades. As of late October, Moody’s (MCO), S&P (SPGI), and Fitch had not published their own ratings on Anthropic, leaving KBRA’s assessment as the sole public marker.

A higher rating could widen access to institutional capital and lower borrowing costs—a critical advantage as Anthropic races to lock in computing capacity. Cheaper financing helps secure chip supply and data-center leases; expensive funding raises the revenue and margin thresholds needed to justify expansion.

The broader market is not uniformly optimistic. The FT reported in October that investors were marking down some AI-infrastructure debt amid doubts that future revenue will support the sector’s borrowing. That is a sector-level warning, not evidence of distress at Anthropic, but it underscores the interconnected nature of the AI buildout. Chip suppliers, lenders, infrastructure owners, and investment funds are now tied together in ways that blur the line between customer and creditor—a phenomenon known as “circular counterparty relationships” that has become part of the credit debate.

Anthropic’s IPO filing also disclosed governance details that may weigh on rating agencies’ assessments. The company’s seven co-founders would retain 50.1% of voting power after the offering, a concentrated control structure that limits outside shareholders’ influence. The filing noted that Anthropic may need additional financing sooner than anticipated, and the company cautioned that revenue growth could decline or fluctuate.

Beyond the balance sheet, regulatory and political risks loom. Anthropic is contesting U.S. government actions designating it a supply-chain risk following a dispute over unrestricted military use of its technology, according to the Associated Press. An export-control directive temporarily interrupted access to two advanced models in June, CNBC reported, and international revenue accounted for approximately 27.8% of first-half sales—making restrictions on overseas access commercially consequential.

A recent parallel cited by Bloomberg is SpaceX (SPCX)’s progression from IPO to investment-grade ratings and a $25 billion bond issue. But those bonds subsequently traded down sharply, a reminder that investment-grade status does not eliminate market risk. It is a financing precedent, not a prediction.

For now, the key catalysts are IPO pricing, any published ratings from the major agencies, and evidence that operating cash generation can keep pace with new obligations. Impax (IPX.L) investment-grade portfolio manager Tony Trzcinka captured the tension: Anthropic has “very strong liquidity and extraordinary future obligations.” His assessment was that current leverage could support investment grade, but the outcome depends on how agencies evaluate its commitment schedule, short operating history, and interconnected financing relationships.

Representatives for Anthropic and KBRA did not respond to requests for comment.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the timing of the KBRA rating. It was assigned in June 2026 and reported by the Financial Times on October 16. The article has been updated to clarify that the $321 billion lease figure represents obligations not yet commenced.