Blackstone executive says fears over AI debt are overblown
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Jas Khaira, Blackstone’s AI head, told TechCrunch that recent concerns about debt held by AI infrastructure companies are overblown. Blackstone, which manages $1.3 trillion in assets, invests in AI models and applications and provides debt and equity financing for data centers and neoclouds, providers that rent out GPU infrastructure.
The firm committed $5 billion to Crux AI and helped structure a $2.3 billion loan for CoreWeave in 2023, using GPUs as collateral and contracts with customers such as Microsoft to assess risk. According to Khaira, CoreWeave’s debt has reached about $50 billion, while higher interest rates, inflation and credit spreads have increased market jitters. Blackstone also co-led, with Coatue, a $10 billion credit facility for Firmus.
Why it matters · editorial interpretation
Khaira’s assessment offers a major financier’s view of how customer contracts and GPUs are used to evaluate credit risk in AI infrastructure companies. At the same time, the debt attributed to CoreWeave and higher financing costs help explain why the issue continues to draw market concern.
Sources
BusinessHardware