OpenAI and Anthropic seek investment grade ratings ahead of IPOs
OpenAI and Anthropic are aiming for investment-grade credit ratings as they prepare for their IPOs.
The idea? Unlock access to the massive $11.7 trillion corporate bond market and bring down their borrowing costs for building out more AI infrastructure.
Big banks like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are helping them work with major rating agencies like Fitch, Moody's, and S&P.
OpenAI and Anthropic seen higher risk
Right now, both companies are seen as higher-risk borrowers, which limits who will lend them money.
If they get investment-grade status, they can tap into funding from big players like pension funds and insurance companies, something not usually open to riskier startups.
NVIDIA has even provided up to $105 billion of credit support for an OpenAI data center project.
Plus, both firms have backing from tech giants like Oracle, Google, and Broadcom as they ramp up for IPOs (with Anthropic said to be considering a valuation of at least $2 trillion).