Blackstone executive says AI infrastructure borrowing risks are overstated

Blackstone executive Jas Khaira said concerns about debt used to build AI computing infrastructure are overblown, arguing that customer contracts and valuable GPUs can underpin the loans. His comments matter because Blackstone is a major financier of data centres and cloud providers as demand for AI computing drives unusually large investment needs.

Blackstone manages $1.3 trillion in assets and says it is the largest owner of compute outside the major cloud companies. It committed $5 billion to Crux AI and helped establish a lending model with a $2.3 billion loan to CoreWeave in 2023, when the company had about $30 million in revenue and limited profitability. CoreWeave’s debt has since grown to about $50 billion, prompting concern about reliance on GPUs as collateral; Blackstone also co-led a $10 billion credit facility for Australian provider Firmus.