According to the Financial Times, Blackstone told investors in the $63 billion deal to finance Anthropic's chips that it expects the AI lab to receive a "high" junk rating once it goes public. Blackstone had previously said Anthropic would reach investment-grade status before 2027. The new forecast points to a double B range rating, the top tier of speculative-grade debt.
Blackstone's view is a prediction, not a decision by any rating agency. A rating in that range would make it harder and more expensive for Anthropic to borrow money to fund its heavy spending, which includes large compute deals made over the past 12 months and has worried investors. Anthropic filed to go public earlier this week.
TechCrunch reached out to Anthropic and Blackstone, and both declined to comment.
Why it matters if you build agents
Anthropic's borrowing costs could shape how quickly it expands compute, which matters for teams that depend on its Claude models. Developers should track the rating outcome and any IPO disclosures before committing to architectures that rely heavily on one model provider.
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