Banks back $22 billion chip loan for Blackstone-Alphabet venture

A group of banks has agreed to provide a $22 billion loan tied to a chip venture involving Blackstone and an Alphabet cloud business, Bloomberg News reported. The size of the facility highlights how aggressively lenders are moving into the infrastructure that powers artificial intelligence.

The transaction sits at the intersection of two forces reshaping corporate finance: private capital's appetite for data centers and semiconductors, and cloud providers' need for enormous computing capacity. Blackstone has built a large presence in digital infrastructure, while Alphabet's cloud division has been expanding the hardware behind its services.

Banks have become more willing to underwrite jumbo loans for AI-related projects, even as some analysts question whether the spending will earn returns quickly enough. Lenders usually syndicate debt of this scale, spreading the exposure across a wider group of institutions rather than holding it alone.

For the banks involved, the deal means fees and closer relationships with two influential borrowers. For the broader market, it is another reminder that the funding needs of the artificial intelligence buildout are pulling bank balance sheets and private funds into the same transactions.