BIS says most money going into AI firms comes from other AI firms

A study from the Bank for International Settlements found that 55.2% of incoming investment into AI firms between 2021 and 2025 came from other AI firms^2,3. The bulletin maps what Crypto Briefing described as a tightly looped financing web in which suppliers often bankroll their own customers³. MarketScreener summarised the same work with the rounder figure of AI being 55% financed in a closed loop⁵. The study notes that these links can secure key inputs but also concentrate risks, and make the sector harder to read¹. The BIS warned of potential macroeconomic risks stemming from circular relationships among AI companies⁴.

Suppliers as lenders

Broadcom is reported to be lending Anthropic $42 billion to lease chips, which Semafor framed as chipmakers financing the build-out that drives demand for their own products^7,8. Newsquawk put the sum higher, reporting that Broadcom is amassing $60 billion to fund chips for Anthropic⁹. Quartz noted that the arrangement involves Anthropic equity, and comes against a Pentagon designation of Anthropic as a supply-chain risk⁸.

Nvidia is making the same case in public. Chief executive Jensen Huang has said he wants to make the company’s compute ‘an investable infrastructure asset’ rather than rely on more conventional funding¹². TheStreet described Nvidia putting $500 billion on the table as a challenge to banking as currently practised, with Huang’s argument being that chips have become an investable asset¹³. Calcalist reported that the $500 billion financing plan has met a Wall Street reality check¹².

Where the debt is sitting

The borrowing is also leaving balance sheets. A Globe and Mail commentary counted hyperscaler borrowing projected to reach $250 billion in the US alone as one of two types of debt fuelling the boom¹¹. A separate analysis noted that a $420 billion capex forecast excludes a large chunk of special purpose financing, with AI’s financing boom moving off balance sheet¹⁰. The Information reported that high-yield bond exchange-traded funds from managers including State Street and Charles Schwab now count debt tied to leased AI data centre capacity¹⁴.

The BIS has warned that the US pace could end in an ‘investment bust’, while ECB data shows Europe is not borrowing to fund AI, a lag that still worries European economists⁶. For investors, the practical point is that supplier credit and off-balance-sheet vehicles make the sector’s leverage harder to see from headline capital spending alone^1,10,14.