Banks commit $42 billion after demanding stronger terms

Broadcom CEO Hock Tan spent the weekend racing to bring a $63 billion chip-financing arrangement for Anthropic across the finish line, according to The Wall Street Journal. His intervention followed a push by banks for revised terms before they committed $42 billion.

The package would let Anthropic lease specialized chips. Tan had spent months wrangling over its terms, according to the report.

The Wall Street Journal described the proposed transaction as the largest AI debt deal in history. Its scale made the banks’ demand for revised terms a central part of the weekend negotiations.

Negotiations unfolded just as Anthropic filed for its IPO. The company was moving toward a public-market offering while Tan was still trying to complete the debt financing for its chip lease.

Two concerns drove the banks’ push for better terms: rising interest rates and the potential for overexposure to AI. The banks demanded those improvements before committing $42 billion to the arrangement.

Tan made the 11th-hour concessions. He agreed to higher interest rates and to guarantees that would cover an Anthropic default, according to the report.

The revised terms paired the $42 billion bank commitment with a higher borrowing rate and added default protection for the lenders. The broader $63 billion package would finance Anthropic’s lease of specialized chips.

Alexander Saeedy and Anissa Gardizy reported that the scramble illustrated a shift in AI finance: Wall Street was still committing cash, while lenders were raising the bar even for the industry’s biggest players. Capital remained available for AI, but on terms that banks viewed as more protective.

The same edition of The Wall Street Journal’s The 10-Point newsletter presented additional items on aluminum, arts finance, an Israeli election, securities-based lending and Banana Ball. The newsletter was curated and edited by Bharbi Hazarika and Gary Mitchell in collaboration with Editor in Chief Emma Tucker.

The 10-Point said cheap Canadian hydropower had fueled aluminum production for American industry for decades. The newsletter said American industry relies on the metal for everything from military applications to pickup trucks. It described President Trump’s trade war as casting Canada as an enemy and said his 50% aluminum tariff had driven U.S. prices to a record premium. The newsletter also said Trump’s push for a massive smelter in Oklahoma faced local backlash. Ryan Dezember examined the steep levy, describing it as punishing domestic automakers, tech developers and home buyers.

The 10-Point said opera houses were trying to maintain a centuries-old tradition in an increasingly precarious financial climate for all arts organizations and that making the finances work had never been easy. It put the cost of running the Metropolitan Opera at around $326 million in the company’s 2025 filing, far more than its box-office revenue, requiring aggressive fundraising to cover the shortfall. General Manager Peter Gelb said, “That’s a very difficult, if not impossible financial model.” Elias Leight examined why opera’s business model is so challenging and the unconventional ways companies are trying to stay afloat.

The 10-Point said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was facing his first national election since Oct. 7, 2023. It said his main centrist challenger, Gadi Eisenkot, differed markedly in style, background and a host of issues that matter to Israeli voters. But the newsletter said their substantive differences on Gaza and a Palestinian state — issues it described as mattering most to the rest of the world — were narrower. Anat Peled examined the high stakes of the contest, which the newsletter described as too close to call.

A Deloitte survey estimated the amount of credit extended globally in securities-based lending. The 10-Point said billionaires have long favored the strategy as a “buy, borrow and die” approach to fund lifestyle purchases without triggering tax bills. It described those portfolio-backed loans as increasingly being adopted by people further down the wealth scale.

The 10-Point said WSJ. Magazine named the stadium-packing baseball circus this year’s sports innovators for turning the summer game into what it called “a wholesome blend of athleticism and absurdity.” In “Banana Ball,” the umpire dances, the pitcher sings and the pinch hitter straps on stilts, all packed into a strict two-hour clock. Jason Gay wrote, “The antidote to a cynical world might just be going a little Bananas.”