When a major owner of AI chips wanted to raise billions of dollars to buy more of them, it turned to a crop of Wall Street investment firms for a loan backed by the chips themselves. For Wall Street, their utility has given them another kind of power, turning them into assets that can backstop loans. Demand for AI chips has shown few signs of slowing in recent months, although big tech companies and startups are struggling to generate revenue from AI that would justify the cost of the computing power that underlies it. The financing deals establish a metaphorical lockbox, housing all of CoreWeave’s AI chips. Write to Asa Fitch at asa.fitch@wsj.com and Miriam Gottfried at Miriam.Gottfried@wsj.comView Full Image How Wall Street Lenders Are Betting Big on the AI Boom

Source: Wall Street Journal May 23, 2024 03:56 UTC