Amazon is reportedly planning to transfer AI chips valued at $8 billion to a special purpose vehicle (SPV). This entity will issue debt and a 10% equity stake to external investors to fund the transaction. Amazon has been in discussions with potential backers regarding this arrangement for several weeks.
The chips involved are Grace Blackwell accelerators, which combine two Nvidia Blackwell GPUs and one Grace CPU. Based on estimates that each unit costs between $60,000 and $70,000, the deal likely covers between 114,000 and 133,000 accelerators currently located in five Amazon data centers.
Under the proposed plan, Amazon will lease the chips back from the SPV to maintain their use. This structure allows the company to remove both the hardware and the associated debt from its balance sheet, which can improve its debt-to-equity ratio and influence its credit rating.
This move follows a broader trend among major tech firms to manage the financial structure of AI infrastructure. Amazon previously committed to purchasing 2 million additional GPUs from Nvidia through 2028, including Blackwell Ultra, Rubin, and the upcoming Rubin Ultra models.
