GPU margin benchmarks
Every disclosed GPU loan margin, with the customer and structure behind it.
For lenders and arrangers
GPU and data centre credit, read from the documents
Benchmarks, structures and deal terms for banks, private credit funds and insurers lending against compute, buildings and power.
The register tracks 514 financings across data centres, GPU clouds and hyperscalers. Disclosed GPU loan margins run from 225 to 750bp over SOFR. Use it to check what is market before a term sheet is signed.
Questions lenders ask
- What is a GPU-backed loan secured on?
- Usually three things together: the GPUs and servers, the customer contracts that pay for their use, and the bank accounts those payments flow into. The borrower is often a special purpose vehicle that owns the hardware and holds the contracts, with a share pledge over it. The contracts generally carry more of the credit than the hardware, which loses value quickly. See GPU-backed loans and GPU security by country.
- How are GPU loans sized?
- Most are sized twice. First on projected contracted cash flow, using a sizing DSCR that is lower for investment-grade customers. Then against a cap on cost or depreciated hardware value, so the debt falls as the GPUs age. The lower of the two sets the draw. See how lenders size a GPU loan and advance rates and reserves.
- What margins are lenders getting?
- Disclosed margins in the register run from 225bp over SOFR for loans backed by investment-grade hyperscaler contracts to around 750bp for weaker credits, with fixed-rate deals between roughly 6.8% and 10%. The customer's credit explains more of the spread than the borrower's. See GPU margin benchmarks.
- What protects a lender when the GPUs are older than the loan?
- Matching amortisation to the contract term, a depreciating value test, cash sweeps near contract expiry, and in some deals residual value support or a hyperscaler backstop. Lenders also look at whether a replacement customer could realistically be found. See does the debt outrun the chip?
- How does data centre debt differ from GPU debt?
- Data centre debt is secured on land, buildings and long leases, so it can run longer and be refinanced through ABS, CMBS or project bonds once the asset is stabilised. GPU debt is shorter, amortises over the customer contract and relies on contracts rather than property. See data centre ABS vs CMBS and GPU loan vs GPU ABS.
- Which English law points come up most?
- Taking and perfecting security over equipment in third-party data centres, landlord waivers and access rights, assignment of customer contracts, direct agreements with customers and landlords, and how intercreditor terms deal with vendor finance and group-level debt. See the clause library.
Views are personal and are not those of any employer or client. Nothing on this page is legal advice.
