The cost of AI hardware has grown so large that even chip companies are now arranging the loans for their customers. The Wall Street Journal reported on 7 October 2026 that Broadcom has been working to arrange more than $50 billion in financing for the custom AI chip it is developing with OpenAI [1][2]. Separately, Oracle is in talks with Apollo and Goldman Sachs to fund a large chip purchase, the Journal reported [2][3].
Both deals are reported, based on people familiar with the discussions. Neither is closed, and talks on the Broadcom deal are described as early. Treat every figure here as reported, not confirmed.
What did the Journal report?
The Journal’s story, by Anissa Gardizy, Matt Wirz and Justin Baer, describes “a series of blockbuster financing deals to pay for computing hardware, part of a rush for capital as data-center build-outs race forward” [1]. Its summary line names Apollo, Blackstone and Goldman Sachs among lenders in talks to finance “megadeals worth tens of billions of dollars apiece” [1].
The WSJ article is paywalled. We could read its headline, summary and opening paragraphs directly [1]. For the rest of the detail below we rely on a SquawkNews report that reproduces the Journal’s text and on a Business Times wire summary [2][3]. Where a detail comes only from those secondary accounts, we say so.
The Broadcom–OpenAI deal
According to the Journal, Broadcom has spent recent weeks trying to arrange more than $50 billion in financing for OpenAI’s custom AI chip, which the two firms are developing together [1][2]. Apollo and Blackstone are among the lenders Broadcom has talked to about taking part. The Journal says talks are early and the size of the deal could change [2].
Further details reported by the Journal, as relayed by SquawkNews [2]:
- The financing could cover “several gigawatts” of OpenAI chip capacity, according to one person familiar with the talks.
- The deal is expected to close before the end of the year.
- OpenAI’s chip programme is known internally as Nexus. Its chips are named after peppers, with the first- and second-generation versions called Jalapeño and Serrano.
The Journal places this a year after OpenAI and Broadcom announced a partnership to develop 10 gigawatts of OpenAI’s custom chips together using Broadcom’s networking technology, with deployment planned from the second half of 2026 through the end of 2029 [2].
Why would a chip designer arrange the financing?
The plain answer: its customer cannot easily pay up front.
The Journal’s explanation, as reproduced by SquawkNews, is that cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services and Oracle have traditionally paid for hardware from their own cash flows, and have already issued hundreds of billions of dollars of bonds for AI build-outs, “pushing the public debt market to its limits” [2]. There is now a new group of chip buyers, including OpenAI and Anthropic, “who don’t have the financial firepower to purchase their own hardware” [2]. AI labs that used to rent most of their computing from cloud providers now want to own more of it, to cut costs and reduce reliance on other firms [2].
So the supplier steps in. If Broadcom can line up lenders, OpenAI gets chips it might otherwise struggle to fund, and Broadcom secures demand for the product it is building.
Has Broadcom done this before?
Yes, in a broader form. The Business Times reports that Broadcom said in June it had set up a platform, with Apollo and Blackstone as anchor investors, to help finance more than 20 gigawatts of computing capacity for AI developers including Anthropic and OpenAI through 2028, beginning with an initial $35 billion tranche led by Apollo in partnership with Blackstone [3]. The same report notes Bloomberg’s August reporting that Broadcom held talks with lenders to raise more than $60 billion in debt for an AI chip financing deal benefiting Anthropic and other companies [3].
TSN covered that Anthropic structure on 7 October, based on Tech Times’ reading of Anthropic’s IPO prospectus, which described Broadcom as chip supplier, lessor, convertible lender and residual-value guarantor at once. The reported OpenAI deal fits the same pattern: Broadcom acting as financier as well as supplier. That raises the same question we flagged then, about concentrated roles if demand ever softens, although the Journal’s report does not describe the OpenAI deal’s structure in that detail.
The Oracle deal
Separately, the Journal reports that Oracle is in talks with Apollo and Goldman Sachs to arrange money for a big chip purchase [2][3]. Oracle is trying to complete the deal as soon as this year and is still talking to multiple potential financing partners, according to one person familiar with the matter [2].
The aim, as the Journal describes it, is to bridge the gap between when Oracle must pay for hardware and when cloud revenue from that hardware starts arriving [2]. The likely structure would have investors fund a separate company that buys the chips, which Oracle would then lease over time. That would let Oracle avoid borrowing more money itself, keeping its debt costs in check as it competes with larger, richer rivals [2].
How big is it? The Journal says it is not clear how many chips Oracle wants to finance. It notes, as an illustration, that buying Nvidia chips for a 1-gigawatt data centre would cost tens of billions of dollars [2]. That is a sense of scale, not a reported deal size; some secondary coverage has presented the 1-gigawatt figure as Oracle’s target, which the Journal’s wording does not support.
Where does SpaceX fit?
The same Journal story also reports that SpaceX has talked to lenders in recent days about a $40 billion financing for Nvidia chips, a deal the Financial Times reported earlier [2]. TSN covered those reported SpaceX talks on 7 October.
What this does not prove
- That any of these deals will happen at the reported size. The Broadcom talks are early and the Journal says the size could change. Oracle is still talking to multiple partners [2].
- That Broadcom, OpenAI or Oracle have confirmed anything. The reports rest on people familiar with the discussions. We did not see on-record confirmation from any of the three in the material we could read [1][2][3].
- The structure of the Broadcom–OpenAI financing. The reporting gives a size, lenders and timing, not who borrows, what the collateral is, or whether Broadcom guarantees anything [2].
- How many chips Oracle is buying. The Journal says this is not clear; the 1-gigawatt cost is an illustration [2].
- The full WSJ text. We read the Journal’s opening directly; the remaining detail comes from a third-party reproduction and a wire summary [1][2][3].
The Bottom Line
The Wall Street Journal reports that Broadcom is arranging more than $50 billion to finance OpenAI’s custom chip, with Apollo and Blackstone among possible lenders, and that Oracle is in talks with Apollo and Goldman Sachs to fund a big chip purchase through a leasing structure [1][2][3]. Both deals are reported and unclosed.
The bigger point is the shift in who pays for AI hardware. Cloud companies have stretched the bond market; AI labs lack the balance sheets; so suppliers and private lenders are filling the gap. That spreads the risk to new places, and it is worth watching who ends up holding it. None of this is investment advice.
Related on TSN: Broadcom’s reported role as Anthropic’s chip supplier, lender and debt guarantor (slug: broadcom-anthropic-debt-guarantor); SpaceX’s reported $40bn Nvidia chip loan talks (slug: spacex-nvidia-chip-debt-talks).
Sources
- Anissa Gardizy, Matt Wirz and Justin Baer, “Oracle, Broadcom and SpaceX Seek Blockbuster Debt Deals to Pay for AI Chips,” The Wall Street Journal, 7 October 2026 (paywalled; headline, summary and opening paragraphs read directly). https://www.wsj.com/tech/oracle-broadcom-and-spacex-seek-blockbuster-debt-deals-to-pay-for-ai-chips-848e8032
- SquawkNews Desk, “Oracle, Broadcom, SpaceX seek debt deals for AI chips” (reproduces the WSJ report’s text; secondary), updated 7 October 2026. https://squawknews.com/news/441873-oracle-broadcom-spacex-seek-debt-deals-for-ai-chips
- “Broadcom plans US$50 billion financing for OpenAI chips, WSJ says,” The Business Times (Bloomberg wire), 8 October 2026. https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/startups-tech/technology/broadcom-plans-us50-billion-financing-openai-chips-wsj-says
