Amazon Plans $8 Billion Chip Lease Deal with Investors

Amazon is considering a novel approach to acquiring and using high-performance AI chips from Nvidia. The e-commerce giant would create a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) to purchase around $8 billion worth of Nvidia Grace Blackwell chips, then lease them back to Amazon for use in its data centers.

The SPV would issue debt financing to investors, allowing it to acquire the chips, which are currently installed in over a dozen data centers across five U.S. states. Amazon could offer outside investors up to a 10% stake in the SPV, according to the Financial Times.

This arrangement would allow Amazon to access the necessary hardware without taking on the upfront costs of ownership. The deal has not yet been finalized, and its terms may change.

This is not an isolated instance; other major AI companies are exploring alternative financing models for expensive chips and computing infrastructure. For example, Broadcom has agreed to provide Anthropic with up to $42 billion in financing for infrastructure and computing capacity leases.