Blackstone dismisses fears over AI infrastructure debt

Blackstone's Jas Khaira, head of its AI-focused unit BXN1, says concerns about a debt-driven crisis from AI infrastructure spending are overblown. Speaking at TechCrunch Disrupt, he outlined how Blackstone pioneered neocloud financing, starting with a $2.3 billion loan to CoreWeave in 2023, using Nvidia GPUs as collateral and blue-chip customer contracts as risk anchors. The firm claims to be the largest owner of compute outside hyperscalers. While rising interest rates and wider credit spreads have rattled markets — CoreWeave shares fell over 20% and Firmus scrapped its IPO — Khaira says demand for compute remains strong enough to sustain the buildout.