Amazon Considered $8 Billion Nvidia Chip Leasing Plan
The proposal highlights how major tech firms are exploring complex financing to manage massive data center costs.
Updated on Oct. 2, 2026 in Data Centers
Live Poll
Is the rapid growth of private credit for big tech expansion creating a dangerous economic bubble?
Amazon has considered moving $8 billion worth of Nvidia chips into an outside-funded vehicle to lease them back, according to industry reports. This move reflects the broader reliance on complex private credit as cloud and infrastructure commitments reach $518 billion over the next decade.
Why it matters
As borrowing costs rise, data center operators are increasingly utilizing third-party financing to preserve cash flow while maintaining compute infrastructure. This shift highlights the growing strain on companies as they struggle with facility delays and the massive capital required to power AI development.
Operators face significant financing pressures, with CoreWeave reporting $35.6 billion in total debt as of June 30 and an estimated 13% cost for conventional borrowing. These figures sit against $20 billion in junk bonds and leveraged loans issued in early 2025.
The players
Amazon
A global cloud infrastructure and retail provider currently optimizing capital allocation for massive AI hardware fleets.
Nvidia
A semiconductor designer and market leader in the data center GPU space that powers global AI infrastructure.
CoreWeave
A specialized cloud service provider focused on high-performance compute infrastructure that relies heavily on private credit facilities.
Anthropic
An AI research and development firm that recently reached an annualized revenue run rate of $65 billion.
Goldman Sachs
A global investment bank facilitating the significant influx of private credit and capital into the AI infrastructure sector.
The details
Companies are turning to private credit to fund the massive expansion of compute resources required for AI. By moving hardware assets into third-party funded vehicles, operators can lease back the capacity, effectively shifting capital expenditures to the balance sheet of external investors. This strategy allows firms like Amazon to maintain hardware access while mitigating the immediate impact of high interest rates on traditional debt markets.
Timeline
Neuberger Berman recorded $20 billion in junk debt during the first 11 months of 2025.
CoreWeave reported $35.6 billion of total debt on June 30.
Goldman Sachs recorded $88 billion in AI-related borrowing during 2026.
Anthropic revenue run rate passed $65 billion by the end of July 2026.
The Tech Race
The aggressive move into complex financing highlights the high-stakes competition to secure compute capacity amid global infrastructure constraints. This effort follows the pattern set by the private credit AI data-center boom described by Ed Zitron.
Readers should expect high volatility in the cloud infrastructure sector as firms manage massive, long-term capital commitments of $518 billion. These financing structures will ultimately dictate the speed at which new, higher-performance AI services reach the end consumer.
The takeaway
The move suggests that massive cloud providers are hitting the limits of traditional capital for AI hardware. Watch for future IPO prospectuses and private credit filings to see if this $8 billion leasing model becomes the industry standard for maintaining AI data centers.
Further reading
For more on the infrastructure behind the latest AI models, visit our Data Centers section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Benzinga.
Live Poll
Is the rapid growth of private credit for big tech expansion creating a dangerous economic bubble?
