Tech Giants Use SPVs to Move $120B in AI Debt Off Books

Silicon Valley's AI arms race is being financed through shadow accounting. Oracle, Meta, and xAI have shifted $120 billion in data center financing off their balance sheets using special purpose vehicles (SPVs), according to Financial Times reports. The deals involve private capital from Pimco, BlackRock, Apollo, and major banks including JPMorgan.

These SPVs own the physical assets—land, buildings, and chips—while tech companies lease the capacity. Meta's $30 billion Hyperion data center project in Louisiana, housed under the Beignet Investor SPV, set the precedent. The structure allowed Meta to raise $27 billion in loans and $3 billion in equity without impacting its corporate debt ratios, followed by a separate $30 billion bond issuance.

The trend reflects a seismic shift in tech financing. Where companies once relied on cash reserves, AI's compute demands now require Wall Street-style leverage. Oracle has partnered with Crusoe, Vantage, and Blue Owl to develop multiple off-balance-sheet data centers supporting its OpenAI cloud contracts.