Anthropic expected to receive high ‘junk’ rating from credit agencies after IPO, FT report says

Anthropic is expected to receive a high rating of “junk” from credit rating agencies after its IPO, according to a Financial Times report.

The FT reports that investment giant Blackstone, the lead investor in a recent $63 billion deal to finance Anthropic’s chips, has told investors in the deal that it expects the AI ​​lab to receive a “junk” rating after its IPO. Previously, the FT notes, Blackstone had said the opposite: that Claude’s maker would receive an investment grade rating (indicating low risk for lenders) before 2027.

Blackstone now expects a dual rating in the B range, the highest level of the “junk” speculative rating, according to the report.

TechCrunch contacted Anthropic and Blackstone, but both declined to comment.

Blackstone’s forecast is just a prediction, but naturally, a high waste rating would make it harder and more expensive for Anthropic to raise money to continue funding its massive spending that has propped up its business. The lab has been on a spending spree, racking up large computing power deals over the past 12 months, which has investors worried.

Anthropic officially filed for public disclosure earlier this week, sparking a wave of speculation about the massive IPO’s impact on the entire AI sector.