Anthropic has offered Blackstone a coupon of 10% on $9 billion of junior debt in a $60 billion chip financing known as Project North Star, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the negotiations. According to Il Sole 24 Ore’s account of the FT report, published on 17 October 2026, the financing is designed to support the procurement of approximately 1.5 gigawatts of customised chips developed by Google.
The same account says Anthropic raised around $4.4 billion through a similar transaction, Project Big Sky, at a rate of 8.5% just four months earlier. For an issuer with a similar credit profile, it says, the required yield on the public market is around 7%, according to the ICE BofA BB US High Yield Index.
Business Pill · FINANCIAL CONDITIONS
A Business Engineer explainer on financial conditions, the market backdrop that sets what borrowers pay for credit. It explains the concept in general and says nothing about Anthropic.
The key insight: As we read it, the reported coupon puts a price on Anthropic’s own credit: the FT reported that Blackstone was offered 10% on $9 billion of junior debt backed by Anthropic’s five-year chip-lease payments, against 8.5% on Project Big Sky four months earlier and around 7% for similarly rated public issuers.
According to the people cited by the FT, Blackstone’s funds are set to invest $9 billion in the subordinated tranche of the financing, which totals $18 billion. Il Sole 24 Ore writes that the debt is secured by payments under five-year lease agreements that Anthropic will have to pay for the chips.
Blackstone is said to have been offered a coupon rate of 10%, with an even higher overall yield once discounts on the issue price and other fees are counted. The rest of the $18 billion junior tranche is expected to be placed with a wider range of investors in the coming months, potentially on less onerous terms.
Il Sole 24 Ore writes that the deal could become the largest-ever financing for the purchase of chips.
Per the Financial Times (people familiar with the negotiations), as reported by Il Sole 24 Ore on 17 October 2026: Blackstone was offered a 10% coupon on $9 billion of junior debt in Project North Star; Project Big Sky raised around $4.4 billion at 8.5% four months earlier; similarly rated issuers pay around 7% (ICE BofA BB US High Yield Index). The overall yield on North Star is higher after the issue discount and fees.
How the $60 Billion Is Built
Bloomberg reported on 2 October, in an account published by AI Affairs, that banks were preparing a $42 billion Class A senior-secured tranche and that Blackstone was leading a separate $18 billion Class B junior tranche, planning to commit $9 billion through its funds and syndicate the rest. That account says Bloomberg described the financing as benefiting Anthropic and other companies.
On those figures, the junior tranche is 30% of the $60 billion, our arithmetic. The 10% coupon reported by the FT applies to Blackstone’s $9 billion of that junior debt.
On the reported figures, a 10% coupon is 1.5 percentage points above Big Sky’s 8.5% and about 3 points above the roughly 7% index yield for similarly rated issuers, our arithmetic. On $9 billion, a 10% coupon comes to $900 million a year in interest, against $630 million at 7%, also our arithmetic, before the issue discount and fees.
Il Sole 24 Ore reads the move above 10% as a sign of greater caution on the part of investors regarding the sector’s financialneeds.
The Structural Read
As we read it, the junior tranche is where Anthropic’s own credit is priced: Bloomberg reported a $42 billion senior-secured tranche and an $18 billion junior tranche, and the 10% the FT reported applies to Blackstone’s $9 billion of the junior debt.
As we read it, the second half of the junior tranche is the next price to watch: the FT reported that the remaining $9 billion is expected to be placed with a wider range of investors in the coming months, potentially on less onerous terms.
As we read it, the comparison runs in two directions: the reported coupon is above the 8.5% Anthropic paid four months earlier, and above the roughly 7% that Il Sole 24 Ore, citing the ICE BofA BB index, gives for a similar credit profile.
Il Sole 24 Ore, 17 October 2026
“The ability to access capital markets thus becomes a decisive factor in the competition to develop artificial intelligence models.”
Three Implications
PRIVATE CREDIT LENDERS The FT reported that Blackstone was offered a 10% coupon and an even higher overall yield once issue-price discounts and fees are counted.
AI LABS RAISING COMPUTE DEBT Il Sole 24 Ore reports that Anthropic’s cost of debt on a similar transaction was 8.5% four months earlier, and that the new financing marks an increase.
CHIP AND CLOUD SUPPLIERS The FT reported that the financing supports the procurement of approximately 1.5 gigawatts of customised chips developed by Google, secured by five-year lease payments.
The framework’s thesis is that “the capex race is no longer a corporate spending cycle. It is a sovereign-scale financing problem dressed in tech-company clothing”, and it sets out to trace “How the money flows, where it cracks, what it buys, who can absorb it, and what happens when revenue can’t catch up.”
As we read it, a reported 10% coupon on lease-backed junior debt is one answer to the “who can absorb it” question for a lab. The framework was published in May 2026 and does not discuss Project North Star.
What Is Not Established
The terms come from people familiar with the negotiations, as reported by the FT. Neither account we read gives a spread or an exact all-in yield, and neither quotes Anthropic or Blackstone on the terms.
We did not read the FT article itself, which is paywalled. We read Il Sole 24 Ore’s English account of it in full on 17 October 2026, and AI Affairs’ account of Bloomberg’s 2 October report for the tranche structure. We did not contact Anthropic or Blackstone.
Business Engineer Framework
The AI Capex Map & The State of AI Hyperscalers
A Business Engineer analysis of how the AI build is financed: how the money flows, where it cracks, and who can absorb it.
Anthropic has offered Blackstone a 10% coupon on $9 billion of the $18 billion junior tranche in its $60 billion Project North Star chip financing, the FT reported, citing people familiar with the negotiations.
On the reported figures, that is above the 8.5% Anthropic paid on Project Big Sky four months earlier and above the roughly 7% public-market yield for similarly rated issuers.
A note on sourcing. The terms come from the Financial Times’ report, which cites people familiar with the negotiations. We could not read the FT article (paywall); we read Il Sole 24 Ore’s English account of it in full on 17 October 2026, and AI Affairs’ account of Bloomberg’s 2 October report for the tranche structure. The 30%, percentage-point and interest figures are our arithmetic. We did not contact Anthropic or Blackstone. The references to our earlier reporting link to our own pieces.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur, HackerNoon and Search Engine People. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
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