A chip lease that is really a loan

Is a lease of AI chips a true lease or a secured financing, and why does it matter?

Broadcom buys Google TPU8i pods and leases them to an Anthropic subsidiary for five years. The document calls itself a lease but says each lease is a financing arrangement. The lessee grants Broadcom a first priority purchase money security interest in the equipment, the parties agree the lessee is the owner for US tax purposes, and title passes to the lessee at the end of the term for a nominal sum. The parties also say the leases are contracts to extend financing, so they cannot be assumed or assigned in the lessee’s bankruptcy. For a lessor, a recharacterisation-proof structure is the point: it is secured either way. Dell Financial’s framework agreement takes the other route: the customer has no title, but grants a back-up security interest in the servers and their proceeds.

Randeep Bubbra | Lawyer | Making the next generation of infrastructure financeable · Firm profile · Updated 29 October 2026

What the filed contracts say

Contract	What the filed wording says
Broadcom TPU lease to Anthropic	The parties agree that each lease is a financing arrangement, with the lessee bearing all costs of the equipment outside the rent.
Broadcom TPU lease to Anthropic	The lessee grants a first priority purchase money security interest in the equipment, accessions, records and proceeds.
Broadcom TPU lease to Anthropic	The leases are stated to be contracts to extend financing, so not assumable or assignable in the lessee’s bankruptcy.
Broadcom TPU lease to Anthropic	For US tax, the lessee is treated as the beneficial owner of the equipment.
Broadcom TPU lease to Anthropic	At expiry, once everything is paid, title passes to the lessee for a nominal (redacted) sum per pod.
Dell Financial–Nscale framework agreement	Dell Financial: the customer has no title, only quiet enjoyment and use, unless the schedule says otherwise.
Dell Financial–Nscale framework agreement	Dell Financial: the customer still grants a security interest in the servers and proceeds, so the funder is secured if the lease is recharacterised.

The filed wording

(b) Lessor and Lessee agree that each Lease is a financing arrangement under which Lessee bears all costs and expenses relating to the Equipment that are not part of the Rent

Broadcom master equipment lease of Google TPU8i pods to an Anthropic subsidiary, section 4.01(b) · Anthropic S-1/A, Exhibit 10.11

Hell or high water rent on chips Default and repossession of leased chips Title, storage and supplier consents Vendor financing of GPU servers, and the bank loan that takes it out Chip lease or GPU loan: the two compared Put it on an issues list All contract clauses

On the deal pages

Financings by the parties to these contracts

The latest debt raised by the companies that signed them, with the terms and the sources on each deal page.

Financing	Borrower or issuer	Date	Amount
Pre-IPO convertible loan-note subscription (initial minimum)	Nscale	15 September 2026	US$2.1bn
Dell short-term equipment lease payment schedules (aggregate)	Nscale	4 September 2026	US$2.54bn
North Carolina GPU DDTL	Nscale	31 August 2026	US$1.2bn
Ward County GPU DDTL	Nscale	31 August 2026	US$1.85bn
Macquarie Iceland GPU facility	Nscale	29 July 2026	US$331.9m

Method

Each extract is quoted from the contract as filed with the SEC, checked against the filed text when it was added; “…” marks words left out. Filers redact commercial terms, so a [***] or [*] is the filer's, not ours. The summaries describe the wording, not how a court would read it, and each contract's defined terms and other clauses can change the effect. General information drawn from public filings. It is not legal advice on any transaction, and using this page does not create a lawyer-client relationship. Views are personal.