OpenAI’s data center partners pile up $100 billion in debt as AI build‑out ramps up

OpenAI’s partners are going into deep debt, almost $100 billion, to keep up with its extreme computing needs.

The company behind ChatGPT isn’t taking the loans itself. It’s using other people’s money to build the data center empire it says is necessary to train smarter models and meet exploding global demand. A senior executive inside OpenAI put it simply: “How does [OpenAI] leverage other people’s balance sheets?”

That’s the playbook. And it’s working… for them.

Big names like SoftBank, Oracle, and CoreWeave have already borrowed at least $30 billion to either invest in OpenAI or build the infrastructure needed to power its models. According to the Financial Times, another $38 billion in new loans is being finalized by a group of banks to fund more sites through Oracle and Vantage Data Centers.

Oracle, SoftBank, CoreWeave expand their borrowing to back OpenAI growth

Oracle has already raised $18 billion in corporate bonds to pay for its part. But that’s just a fraction of what analysts think is coming. KeyBanc Capital Markets estimates Larry Ellison’s company could take on $100 billion in total debt in the next four years just to meet its OpenAI contracts.

Those include the upcoming $38 billion financing deal for Vantage sites being developed in Texas and Wisconsin. And Vantage isn’t going into that blind, it plans to use special purpose vehicles (SPVs) to insulate itself if things go sideways. These obscure loan structures, including variable interest entities, make sure investors don’t get hit if Oracle doesn’t pay.

SoftBank is also all-in. It raised $20 billion this year for AI-related plays, with OpenAI being its biggest bet. Someone close to SoftBank allegedly said that $1 billion from its $8.5 billion bridge loan tied to OpenAI has already been paid back. The rest of the funds went to pay down other old bonds, not new bets.

Then there’s CoreWeave, which supplies compute to Microsoft and indirectly to OpenAI through Microsoft’s contracts. It’s borrowed more than $10 billion to lease enough data center space to keep that pipeline flowing.

Blue Owl and Crusoe borrow billions through SPVs to build OpenAI sites

Blue Owl Capital and Crusoe have also leaned hard into the OpenAI boom. Together, they created a joint SPV to build OpenAI’s first U.S. data center in Abilene, Texas, using a $10 billion loan from JPMorgan. Oracle signed a 17-year lease, which pays off the loan. But there’s a catch: if Oracle ever stops paying, JPMorgan takes control of the land and the building, no strings attached to Blue Owl or Crusoe.

Blue Owl also used another wholly owned SPV to borrow $18 billion from mostly Japanese banks for a second OpenAI-linked site in New Mexico. Oracle’s also leasing that one.

In total, $100 billion in bonds, private loans, and bank debt now orbit around OpenAI’s name. That puts it on the same level of debt exposure as AT&T, Comcast, Volkswagen, and Toyota, based on 2024 data from Janus Henderson.

And that figure might already be outdated. Some partner loans haven’t even been labeled “OpenAI-related,” even though they are.

Meanwhile, OpenAI keeps its own books clean. It has a $4 billion credit facility from U.S. banks that it hasn’t touched. No balance sheet risk. No problem.

But its commitments are huge. The company has signed $1.4 trillion in compute deals over eight years, way more than its expected $20 billion annual revenue. It says those deals are necessary.

In their words: “Building AI infrastructure is the single most important thing we can do to meet surging global demand. The current compute shortage is the single biggest constraint on OpenAI’s ability to grow.”

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