The Pulse
Broadcom’s OpenAI Chip Financing Talks Span $30B to $50B+
Broadcom has held preliminary discussions about financing for OpenAI’s custom chips, with Bloomberg reporting a possible $30 billion debt raise and The Wall Street Journal reporting more than $50 billion in financing. Neither figure represe
AI.info Team · Written with AI ·
Broadcom’s early financing discussions for OpenAI’s custom AI chips point to roughly $30 billion in debt, while The Wall Street Journal reported that Broadcom had been working to arrange more than $50 billion in financing. Both reports appeared on October 7, 2026, and neither establishes a final financing amount: Bloomberg said talks were preliminary, while the Journal reported a larger potential package.
Two reports, two possible totals
Bloomberg reported that Broadcom had held early discussions about financing to help OpenAI purchase chips the companies are developing together. One person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the talks indicated the companies could seek around $30 billion in debt; the report said no formal process had begun and plans could change. The Journal, citing people familiar with the discussions, reported that Broadcom had been working in recent weeks to arrange more than $50 billion for OpenAI’s custom chip.
The Journal’s report names Apollo, Blackstone and Goldman Sachs among lenders in talks to finance the megadeals it describes, but does not establish which lenders would participate in Broadcom’s specific package. The reports do not explain whether the larger figure reflects a changed target, a broader financing package or a different estimate of the same proposal. Broadcom has not announced an OpenAI financing deal, and neither report describes signed terms or a closing timetable. The amounts should therefore be read as reported possibilities, not committed borrowing.
OpenAI’s 10-gigawatt chip plan
The financing talks concern hardware tied to a broader partnership. In October 2025, Broadcom and OpenAI announced plans to develop and deploy 10 gigawatts of OpenAI-designed AI accelerators, with Broadcom supplying networking technology and working with OpenAI on the systems. The announcement targeted rack deployments beginning in the second half of 2026 and continuing through the end of 2029.
“Developing our own accelerators adds to the broader ecosystem of partners all building the capacity required to push the frontier of AI to provide benefits to all humanity.”
OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman said those words in the companies’ announcement. The partnership gives OpenAI a path to use custom-designed processors alongside its other computing resources; the companies have not publicly linked the 10-gigawatt deployment schedule to a specific financing plan.
A separate $35 billion platform already backs Anthropic
Broadcom’s existing financing platform with Apollo and Blackstone provides a precedent, but its first announced transaction was for a different customer. The companies said in June 2026 that the platform was designed to enable more than 20 gigawatts of compute capacity using Broadcom technology for AI labs including OpenAI and Anthropic, through 2028. Its initial $35 billion tranche, led by Apollo in partnership with Blackstone, was designated to support Anthropic’s expansion of more than one gigawatt, with deployment expected to begin in mid-2026.
That distinction matters as the reported figures differ. Broadcom has not said whether Apollo, Blackstone or other lenders are involved in the OpenAI discussions, nor whether a future package would use the same platform or structure as the Anthropic financing. The reports leave the proposed amount unsettled: Bloomberg described early talks indicating around $30 billion in debt, while the Journal reported more than $50 billion in financing.