Broadcom's $42 billion Anthropic loan was already in its 10-Q, next to a $29 billion lease backstop

Broadcom has agreed to lend Anthropic up to $42 billion through convertible notes to pay for leased chip capacity, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing the AI company's IPO prospectus. Broadcom shares were up 0.39% at $352.56 in premarket trading at 8:51 a.m., according to Nasdaq.com, after closing down 1.10% at $351.19 on Wednesday.

Anthropic's prospectus is not public on SEC EDGAR, so the Anthropic-side detail below is as Reuters reported it. The lender's side is public, though. Broadcom put both this facility and a second, larger exposure into its own quarterly filing on Sept. 10, without naming the customer.

What Broadcom's 10-Q already said

In the commitments note of its 10-Q for the quarter ended Aug. 2, Broadcom says a customer may, "under certain circumstances and if needed," issue it convertible promissory notes of up to $42 billion. The money can be used only for the customer's obligations under lease agreements for compute capacity. As of Aug. 2, no notes had been issued. Reuters reported that Anthropic does not expect to sell any notes before its IPO, that Broadcom could designate a financing partner, and that the notes could convert into Anthropic shares.

The same note describes a separate guarantee. In June, Broadcom launched what it calls its AI XPV platform with a $35 billion first tranche led by a financial partner. That partner buys AI racks built on Broadcom-designed custom accelerators and leases them to a customer for five years. Broadcom backstops the lease payments. If the customer defaults, Broadcom covers the gap between 85% of what is still owed and what the racks fetch when sold. Its maximum exposure once every rack is deployed is about $29 billion, undiscounted. Broadcom has paid nothing under it.

The 10-Q does not say the backstop customer is Anthropic. It matches what Reuters described: a five-year lease of tensor processing unit capacity. Neither item appears in Broadcom's previous 10-Q, for the quarter ended May 3.

The size against both balance sheets

• Against Broadcom: the $42 billion facility is about 1.75 times the $23.98 billion of cash Broadcom held on Aug. 2. It is about 1.3 times the $32.95 billion of operating cash flow Broadcom generated in the first three quarters of its fiscal year. Together with the $29 billion backstop, the possible exposure is $71 billion, more than Broadcom's $61.08 billion of outstanding debt.
• Against Anthropic: Reuters said the lease commitment the notes would help fund totals $125.2 billion over five years. $42 billion is about a third of that. Spread evenly, the lease runs about $25 billion a year, roughly 5.4 times the nearly $4.6 billion of revenue Anthropic booked in 2025, according to Reuters' Sept. 28 report on the prospectus. That year Anthropic posted an operating loss of more than $8 billion.

Why the circularity matters to Broadcom holders

Broadcom is extending credit to a customer so that customer can rent hardware Broadcom designed. Reuters said Anthropic is expected to become Broadcom's largest compute customer in 2027. It also reported that Broadcom projects about $115 billion of AI semiconductor revenue in fiscal 2027 and $230 billion in fiscal 2028. The 10-Q shows how concentrated the business already is: one distributor accounted for 50% of net revenue in the latest quarter, and the top five end customers for about 55%. Quarterly revenue rose 86% to $29.59 billion.

Both filings flag the risks. Broadcom's risk factors warn that backstops and guarantees add counterparty credit risk and could affect its credit ratings. Anthropic's prospectus, according to Reuters, says Broadcom's dual role as supplier and lender creates "potential conflicts of interest." It also says certain defaults could make much of its lease obligations immediately due while limiting its use of the $42 billion facility. Reuters added that Anthropic put cash into a restricted account for Broadcom's benefit in April.

Related: what Anthropic's prospectus showed about its 2025 losses and Akamai's $11.6 billion Anthropic contract.

Disclosure: The Company Chronicle uses AI tools, including Anthropic's Claude, in producing its coverage; Anthropic has no role in our coverage. Sources: Reuters via CNBC; Broadcom Form 10-Q filed Sept. 10, 2026; Reuters' Sept. 28 prospectus figures as summarized by The Motley Fool; Nasdaq.com. Broadcom did not comment to Reuters and Anthropic declined to comment. Ratios are our calculations. This is market information, not investment advice.