Tech giants have issued up to $300 billion in guarantees over the last 12 months to fund AI data centers and hardware. Companies like Meta, Alphabet, Nvidia, and Broadcom utilize special purpose vehicles (SPVs) to secure financing without recording the full debt on their primary balance sheets.
Alphabet increased its credit derivative obligations related to data centers from $16.9 billion to $43.8 billion in six months. The company has also committed to future guarantees of $24.1 billion for energy and data center infrastructure projects.
In August, Nvidia provided up to $105 billion in guarantees to SB Energy for data centers in Ohio, which will serve OpenAI. Meanwhile, Meta issued guarantees for the Hyperion data center totaling $28 billion, enabling the project to raise $27 billion in debt.
Broadcom launched the AI XPV platform in June with a $35 billion initial tranche to fund AI accelerator racks. The company holds a maximum potential liability of $29 billion under this agreement, which supports equipment supply for Anthropic.
Morgan Stanley analysts estimate that seven major hyperscalers and AI chip manufacturers hold over $3.1 trillion in off-balance-sheet obligations. Credit rating agencies are monitoring these structures, noting that they complicate the credit risk profiles of the firms involved.
