Anthropic and OpenAI Seek Post-IPO Investment-Grade Ratings as Massive AI Compute Spending Fuels Financing Needs

TradingKey - On September 8, according to the Financial Times, Morgan Stanley (MS) and Goldman Sachs (GS) are communicating with credit rating agencies such as S&P, Moody's, and Fitch on behalf of OpenAI and Anthropic, hoping that the two companies can secure investment-grade credit ratings after completing their future IPOs.

If achieved, the goal would make it easier for the two AI giants to access the global corporate bond market, valued at approximately $11.7 trillion, and potentially secure financing at lower costs.

For OpenAI and Anthropic, which remain unprofitable, this goal will not be easy to achieve. Rating agency analysts noted that neither company has established stable positive free cash flow, while AI model training and data center construction require continuous, massive capital investments. Consequently, under traditional credit metrics, both companies currently remain closer to high-risk, speculative-grade entities.

However, Wall Street's core conviction is that an IPO could mark a major turning point for both companies' credit profiles. Securing large-scale equity financing upon going public would significantly boost cash reserves, improve balance sheets, and provide stronger support for subsequent debt financing. For institutional investors such as pension funds and insurance companies that favor investment-grade bonds, their potential capital pools will further expand once the two companies obtain corresponding ratings.

The two companies' active efforts to enter the bond market are closely linked to the capital demands of AI infrastructure.

OpenAI and Anthropic are continuously scaling up investments in computing power, chips, and data centers. Relying solely on venture capital and institutional equity investments is no longer sufficient to meet future expansion needs, making the issuance of bonds an important option to supplement long-term funding.

This also concerns infrastructure partners including Oracle and Nvidia, which have previously provided financing or credit support for OpenAI and Anthropic's large-scale AI projects. If the two companies can establish independent, low-cost financing channels, it would also help reduce the collaborative projects' reliance on external guarantees.

SpaceX (SPCX) rapidly secured an investment-grade rating after going public in June this year, providing a new benchmark case for OpenAI and Anthropic. However, compared with tech giants that already possess mature commercial assets and cash flows, a significant gap remains in the profitability of the two AI companies. Therefore, how rating agencies will ultimately evaluate their capital strength, business growth, and long-term cash flow still awaits the completion of their IPOs and the disclosure of further financial data.