MoneyAugust 4, 2026via The Decoder
Google moves billions in Anthropic chip risk off its balance sheet
Why it matters
Google is restructuring its massive Anthropic investment through third-party financing (Broadcom, Apollo, Blackstone, Morgan Stanley) to reduce balance-sheet exposure. This reveals both the scale of Google's commitment to Anthropic and a sophisticated financial engineering play that concentrates counterparty risk on the funding partners rather than Alphabet's shareholders.
Key signals
- ~$200 billion in chip and data-center contracts tied to Anthropic
- Financing structure involves Broadcom, Apollo, Blackstone, Morgan Stanley
- Risk kept off Google's balance sheet via third-party financing
- Dependent on Anthropic's growth trajectory and lease-payment ability
- Reported August 2026
The hook
$200 billion. That's the size of Google's off-balance-sheet Anthropic financing structure—and the risk if Anthropic stumbles.
Google is working with Broadcom, Apollo, Blackstone, and Morgan Stanley on a multibillion-dollar financing structure that supplies Anthropic with AI chips and data centers while keeping most of the risk off Google's balance sheet. The setup leaves roughly $200 billion in contracts dependent on Anthr…