Broadcom Seeks Up to $50 Billion to Finance OpenAI Custom AI Chips as Stocks Slide on Revenue Doubts

Broadcom is in early talks to arrange more than $50 billion in financing to help OpenAI purchase the custom AI chips the two companies are developing together, according to the Wall Street Journal. Bloomberg separately reported the debt financing figure at around $30 billion, and sources caution that discussions are early and the amount could change. Apollo and Blackstone are among the lenders Broadcom has approached about participating, with a deal expected before year-end.

The financing is tied to OpenAI's internal chip program, known as "Nexus," whose first two chip generations are codenamed "Jalapeño" and "Serrano." The two companies previously announced a partnership to develop 10 gigawatts of custom AI chip capacity using Broadcom's networking technology, with deployments planned from the second half of 2026 through 2029. The push for outside financing reflects OpenAI's broader strategy to own more of its computing infrastructure, reducing costs and dependence on major cloud providers. The deal would cover several gigawatts of that capacity. Broadcom and SpaceX join Oracle, which is also pursuing a large chip-debt arrangement, in what analysts are calling a wave of AI infrastructure debt deals.

Broadcom shares fell roughly 4.35 percent on Thursday, pressured not only by uncertainty around the financing talks but also by a Financial Times report questioning the gap between OpenAI's revenue and the scale of AI infrastructure spending. That report triggered a broader selloff across chip stocks, with Arm falling more than 6 percent, Intel dropping more than 5 percent, Micron off nearly 5 percent, Nvidia down almost 3 percent, and Taiwan Semiconductor falling 3 percent. Oracle, which has its own exposure to OpenAI infrastructure spending, dropped more than 5 percent. Earlier in the session, Taiwan Semiconductor reported record third-quarter revenue of $46.7 billion, a 50 percent year-over-year gain, providing a countervailing signal of demand strength even as the OpenAI revenue report rattled sentiment. Broadcom also presented networking innovations at the 2026 OCP Global Summit during the day.