Analysis · Structuring · 4 min read
Full, limited or none: how much parent support GPU lenders take
Recourse to the sponsor is one of the most negotiated points in a GPU loan. The public deals show every answer, sometimes within one sponsor's own facilities.
- 01CoreWeave gave full guarantees on DDTL 2.0, 5.0 and 5.5, a limited guarantee on 4.0 and a guarantee of one co-borrower on 3.0.
- 02Nscale's support comes from the data centre affiliate, not the parent. Nebius gave no full parent guarantee.
- 03The tightest pricing sits with limited or no parent support, where the customer is strong.
A GPU loan sits in a ring-fenced borrower so that lenders can rely on the GPUs and the customer contract. The open question is how much the sponsor stands behind it as well. The benchmark below shows the full range across twelve facilities.
Parent support across twelve GPU facilities
| Facility | Customer behind the cash flow | Parent support | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| CoreWeave DDTL 2.0 · May 2024 | Pools of IG and non-IG contracts | Full guarantee | 6.00% / 6.50% / 13.00% |
| CoreWeave DDTL 3.0 · Jul 2025 | One contract (OpenAI) | Guarantee of one co-borrower only | 4.00% |
| CoreWeave DDTL 4.0 · Mar 2026 | One IG customer | Limited guarantee | 2.25% |
| CoreWeave DDTL 5.0 · May 2026 | Two non-IG customers | Full guarantee | 4.50% |
| CoreWeave DDTL 5.5 · Aug 2026 | Diverse contracts, ~3 years | Full guarantee | 5.50% |
| IREN Hardware 3 · May 2026 | Microsoft | Limited guarantees | 2.50% (notes 5.96% fixed) |
| Nscale Ward County · Aug 2026 | Microsoft | Data centre affiliate guarantees | 2.375% |
| Nscale North Carolina · Aug 2026 | One customer contract | Affiliate guarantor | 2.375% |
| Nebius · Jul 2026 | One IG customer | No full parent guarantee | 2.50% |
| Lambda Compute I · Oct 2026 | Two highly rated customers | Sponsor equity in build | Fixed, n/d |
| Crusoe Iceland · Sep 2026 (launch) | Customer contracts | n/d | 4.75% to 5.00% (talk) |
| GMI Cloud · Sep 2026 | NVIDIA MSA | n/d | n/d |
One sponsor, four answers
CoreWeave's own facilities show how much this is negotiated deal by deal. DDTL 2.0, 5.0 and 5.5 carry full parent guarantees. DDTL 3.0, backed by a single contract, has a guarantee of one co-borrower only. DDTL 4.0, backed by one investment-grade customer, has a limited guarantee.
Elsewhere the answers differ again. Nscale's US loans rely on guarantees from the data centre affiliate rather than the parent. IREN gave limited guarantees. Nebius's first secured GPU loan has no full parent guarantee, and Lambda's support takes the form of sponsor equity in the build.
Recourse does not buy price
Lining up parent support against margin gives a counter-intuitive result. The full-guarantee facilities price at 4.50% to 5.50% over SOFR, while the limited and no-guarantee facilities with investment-grade customers price at 2.25% to 2.50%. The customer contract, not the parent, decides the price. Parent support appears where the contracts need it.
Questions for the next term sheet
- What exactly does a limited guarantee cover: completion, cost overruns, specific indemnities or a capped amount?
- Does the guarantee fall away at a milestone, such as full delivery or a DSCR test?
- Would a stronger customer contract remove the need for a guarantee altogether?
- How do cross-default and parent insolvency triggers interact with a limited-recourse structure?
For in-house counsel
Take it to the documents
The filed wording behind this piece, for the lender’s or the borrower’s side. Previews are open; the full text is free with InfraCompute Weekly.
- GPU loan summariesFiled GPU credit agreements side by side: advance rates, covenants and the collateral package.
- Financing clause libraryCash traps, coverage ratios, cures, step-in and GPU security, quoted from credit agreements and indentures.
- Issues list: GPU credit agreementBuild it from the lender’s or the borrower’s side, with where filed deals land.
- The legal desk for in-house counselContract library, issues lists, checklists and English law notes.
Sources
- CoreWeave DDTL 4.0: pulse2.com
- CoreWeave DDTL 5.0: CoreWeave release: investors.coreweave.com
- Nebius release: nebius.com
- Nscale US loans: runtimewire.com
- IREN Hardware 3: SEC filing: sec.gov
