Strategic Move by OpenAI and Anthropic: The Path to Investment Rating After Going Public
The world’s leading artificial intelligence laboratories, OpenAI and Anthropic, are intensively preparing not only for their expected initial public offerings (IPOs) but also for the next phase of the extremely capital-intensive technology race. According to findings by the Financial Times, bankers for both companies are already in talks with leading rating agencies. The goal is to obtain a prestigious investment-grade rating after the IPO, which could fundamentally facilitate the financing of massive infrastructure for these tech firms—ranging from the construction of new data centers to the purchase of state-of-the-art chips.
The Stock Market as a Gateway to Cheaper Debt and Stable Capital
Investment banks Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have actively discussed the financial health of OpenAI and Anthropic with representatives from Fitch, Moody’s, and S&P in recent weeks. The bankers’ main argument is the expected influx of capital: going public could bring the companies tens of billions of USD, which would dramatically strengthen their balance sheets and overall stability.
Key Benefits of Obtaining an Investment Rating:
- Broader group of creditors: It allows the company to reach institutional investors, such as pension funds and insurance companies, which are prohibited from investing in speculative debt.
- Access to the bond market: It opens the way to the U.S. corporate bond market, the size of which is estimated at $11.7 trillion.
- Lower debt service costs: A better rating directly correlates with lower interest rates on loans and bonds.
However, obtaining such a rating shortly after an IPO would be exceptional. Historically, it took tech giants like Meta, Netflix, or Tesla many years to fight their way into the investment-grade category. A recent exception to this trend was SpaceX, which achieved this rating almost immediately after its public offering.
For both OpenAI and Anthropic, however, profitability remains the biggest obstacle. Both companies continue to burn through massive amounts of cash, and according to sources, rating agencies are primarily waiting for the actual results of their public stock offerings.
Rating as Relief for the Entire AI Ecosystem
Potential success in obtaining a high rating would not only benefit the AI companies themselves but would also provide relief to their strategic partners and suppliers. Currently, corporations such as Nvidia, Oracle, Google, and Broadcom are heavily involved in infrastructure financing.
The Role of Technology Partners:
- Nvidia: Provides OpenAI with credit support amounting to $105 billion for the construction of a data center in Ohio. According to the agreements, this support is set to end exactly when OpenAI obtains a sufficient credit rating of its own.
- Oracle: Facing pressure due to massive infrastructure investments for OpenAI. In July, S&P downgraded Oracle’s rating to BBB- (the lowest investment-grade level) due to high debt and obligations associated with construction.
Obtaining an investment rating for OpenAI and Anthropic is therefore a key moment for the entire industry. It would allow a significant portion of the financial burden to be shifted from large technology partners directly to the AI model developers themselves, which would stabilize the entire supply chain.
It allows the company access to cheaper financing and to money from large institutions, such as pension funds, which have strict rules for investing.
These partners currently bear a significant portion of the financial risk and infrastructure costs, which in Oracle’s case even led to a downgrade of its own credit rating.
