Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have asked the three big credit rating agencies to treat OpenAI and Anthropic as investment-grade borrowers the moment they go public, the Financial Times reported Tuesday.
Investment grade is the rating tier that lets pension funds and insurers buy a company’s bonds. Neither lab turns a profit, but even as both burn cash, Wall Street wants the stamp anyway.
Nvidia Has $105 Billion Riding on This
OpenAI ran a $20.9 billion operating loss on $13.1 billion of revenue in 2025, according to accounts obtained by the Financial Times. Anthropic does not expect to break even until 2028, and OpenAI not until 2030.
Nvidia agreed in August to guarantee up to $105 billion of lease obligations for an OpenAI campus in Pike County, Ohio. The securities filing also spells out how Nvidia gets free.
“NVIDIA’s obligations under an Agreement will terminate upon the earliest to occur of… (iii) OpenAI achieving a satisfactory credit rating,” reads an excerpt in the filing.
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The conditions that would warrant the termination of Nvidia’s obligations are as follows, with the third being the real prize for this case:
- The 20th anniversary of the commencement of the applicable lease.
- The termination of the applicable lease by OpenAI in accordance with its terms.
- OpenAI achieving a satisfactory credit rating, and,
- Other customary termination events. OpenAI has agreed to reimburse and indemnify NVIDIA for any and all amounts actually paid by NVIDIA to the Lessor under the Agreements.
A rating does more than cut borrowing costs. It shifts hundreds of billions of dollars of AI risk off Nvidia, Google, and Broadcom, and onto ordinary bond investors.
Google and Broadcom have extended tens of billions in support so Anthropic can use their chips. Both expect to pull back once it lists.
SpaceX Got the Stamp, But Its Bonds Still Sank
SpaceX won investment grade from all three agencies on June 19, days after its landmark initial public offering (IPO).
It then sold $25 billion of bonds. Within days, the extra yield investors demanded on the longest maturities pushed past 190 basis points, close to junk pricing.
Meta, Netflix, and Tesla waited a decade or more for the same treatment.
The Agencies Have Not Said Yes
Rating analysts still describe both labs as speculative-grade and loss-making, with thin disclosure. Cheap Chinese open-source models add another worry.
Anthropic could list in late September, carrying a $2 trillion valuation pitch.
OpenAI’s own IPO timeline points to 2027.
The ask, although simple, is unusual. Treat IPO cash as a substitute for profit. So far, the agencies have not.