Executives from Intel Corporation and Broadcom Inc. warned that access to capital could become a significant bottleneck for artificial intelligence expansion, despite strong demand for computing infrastructure.
Speaking at the DBS Asia Future Forward Conference in Singapore, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan stated that obtaining financing could become a larger obstacle than shortages of chips or electricity. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan also highlighted rising financing costs and uncertainty regarding investment returns, urging companies to improve efficiency and develop business models that deliver tangible returns.
Tan expects computing demand to exceed supply through 2029, potentially extending into 2030, and sees strong AI infrastructure demand over the next two to three years.
The warnings come amid a slowdown in AI-related borrowing. Global AI-related debt issuance fell to $23 billion in September, according to Morgan Stanley data, which noted that monthly financing has declined since a peak of $113 billion in June. Morgan Stanley attributed the drop to substantial borrowing earlier in the year, with the firm forecasting nearly $570 billion in AI-related debt issuance for 2026.
Separately, JPMorgan projected $4.1 trillion in cumulative AI debt financing through 2030.
Major financing deals remain planned. Space Exploration Technologies Corp. reportedly plans to raise $40 billion to purchase chips from NVIDIA Corporation. Apollo Global Management is expected to lead that financing. Banks are also arranging a $60 billion package tied to Broadcom’s chip deals with Anthropic.
Bank of America Securities analyst Tom Curcuruto estimates Broadcom’s AI financing vehicle could support about $370 billion of senior debt by mid-2029 at a 20-gigawatt scale. However, the analyst noted that Broadcom takes on risk by backstopping customer lease obligations, with its initial transaction exposing the company to as much as $29 billion.
On Monday, shares of Intel were down 1.36% at $103.28, Broadcom shares were down 0.55% at $359.55, and NVIDIA shares were down 0.06% at $229.14 during premarket trading.
