Anthropic is likely to be handed a high "junk" rating by credit rating agencies once it completes its initial public offering, according to a report from the Financial Times. Blackstone, the investment giant that served as anchor investor in a recent $63 billion deal to finance Anthropic's chips, reportedly told investors in that deal that it anticipates the AI lab will land a "high" junk rating after its IPO.

That marks a notable reversal. The FT notes that Blackstone had previously stated the opposite—that the maker of Claude would secure an investment-grade rating, signaling low risk for lenders, before 2027 arrives. Now, according to the reporting, Blackstone expects a double B range rating, which sits at the top tier of speculative "junk" grade.

While Blackstone's forecast is only a prediction, a high junk rating would naturally make it both harder and more expensive for Anthropic to raise the capital needed to sustain the enormous spending that has underpinned its business. Over the past 12 months, the lab has been on a spending spree, accumulating large compute power deals—a trend that has worried investors.

Anthropic officially filed to go public earlier this week, setting off a wave of speculation about how such a massive IPO would reshape the broader AI industry.