Summary
In late October 2026, global AI compute investment is running on three parallel financing forms: Meta is raising about $95 billion in equity ($35B follow-on plus a $60B Class C plan) to fund AI infrastructure; Bank of America, Blackstone, Citi and Morgan Stanley set up a $63 billion SPV arrangement to buy Broadcom chips and lease them to Anthropic; and Anthropic committed at least $518 billion of compute-related spending over the next decade in its S-1. Equity, debt, and long-term commitments now jointly form the capital structure of AI infrastructure.
Background: Three Groups of Capital Events in One Week
In late October 2026, multiple AI compute financing events were disclosed in quick succession. Meta reported its fiscal Q3 results on October 21; on October 25, reports said SpaceX planned a $40 billion debt raise to buy GPUs; and on October 26, Meta filed for an equity raise of up to about $95 billion, Anthropic formally filed its S-1 with long-term compute commitments, and Bank of America, Blackstone, Citi and Morgan Stanley jointly announced a $63 billion SPV-backed AI financing arrangement. Together, the events show that capital supply for AI infrastructure is shifting from equity-only funding to a hybrid of equity, debt, and long-term commitments.
Equity Financing: Meta's Follow-On and Anthropic's Planned IPO
On October 26, Meta disclosed two equity tracks: a public follow-on offering of about $35 billion ($22.5 billion of Class A common stock plus $12.5 billion of depositary shares) and a plan for up to $60 billion of non-voting Class C stock at market prices (no agreement signed, expected no earlier than Q1 2027). Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom expressed interest in buying up to $5 billion of Class A shares combined (non-binding), and underwriters received a 30-day over-allotment option. Meta's FY 2026 capex guidance is $135-145 billion, with $97 billion of operating cash flow in the first nine months.
On the same day, Anthropic filed its S-1 with the SEC, planning to list A-class common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under ticker ANT, led by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. According to the Financial Times, existing investors expect the company to seek a $1.5-1.75 trillion valuation; the Wall Street Journal reported an IPO target window of the week of November 16. If the raise exceeds SpaceX's record $86.25 billion IPO in June 2026, it would become the largest IPO in history.
Debt and SPVs: The Chip-Leasing Model
On October 26, Bank of America, Blackstone, Citi and Morgan Stanley jointly announced a $63 billion AI financing arrangement through a special purpose vehicle (SPV), which will buy Broadcom AI chips and networking equipment and lease them to Anthropic. Broadcom will provide residual-value support for the SPV's first-lien debt and will supply XPU AI accelerators through the SPV starting in 2027. Earlier, Apollo and Blackstone had reached a $35 billion funding agreement with Broadcom to support Anthropic's compute purchases.
This "debt financing + chip leasing" structure keeps compute assets off the balance sheet: the financing parties buy the hardware and lease it out, the AI company pays for usage, and the chip supplier provides residual-value support to lower debt risk. It relieves the cash-flow pressure of one-time capital expenditure for AI companies while transferring depreciation and residual-value risk to financiers and suppliers.
Long-Term Commitments and Cash-Flow Risk
Anthropic disclosed in its S-1 that it plans at least $518 billion of cloud and compute spending over the next decade, about 80% of it non-cancellable (Shanghai Securities News reported the total cost could rise to $750 billion), and already has commitments of up to about $44.6 billion under the NScale agreement through 2033 and up to $120.5 billion related to SpaceX transactions. Such non-cancellable commitments are hard to adjust if demand or technology changes.
Cash-flow risk is emerging in parallel: Anthropic's H1 2026 net loss was $80.748 billion (about $72 billion from convertible-note valuation changes, a non-cash item), but adjusted operating profit turned positive at $1.6 billion and operating cash flow reached $3.9 billion; Meta's free cash flow turned negative for the first time in Q3, and future spending commitments rose to $825 billion from about $700 billion in July. Market concerns about whether AI investment will generate returns are already reflected in the pullback in investor expectations for Anthropic's IPO valuation.
Model Comparison
| Financing form | Representative event | Capital size | Risk profile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public equity follow-on | Meta $35B follow-on + $60B Class C plan | Up to ~$95B | Dilutes existing shareholders; non-voting Class C eases control dilution |
| Equity IPO | Anthropic S-1 planned listing | Up to ~$100B raised | Valuation volatility and market-window risk; complex five-class structure |
| SPV debt leasing | $63B SPV buys Broadcom chips to lease to Anthropic | $63B | Residual-value support depends on Broadcom; lease payments depend on lessee operations |
| Long-term compute commitment | Anthropic at least $518B over next decade | $518B | High non-cancellable ratio, low flexibility |
Conclusion
Equity provides long-term capital, SPV leasing supplies off-balance-sheet equipment, and long-term commitments lock in compute capacity; the three jointly support the expansion of AI factories, but each also amplifies cash-flow and valuation risk. In the near term, this hybrid financing structure is expected to keep dominating AI infrastructure investment.