美国摩根大通公司（JPMorgan Chase & Co.）和高盛集团（Goldman Sachs Group Inc.）罕见地采取了限制风险的措施，以控制其对人工智能初创公司Volta Infrastructure Holdings Ltd.一笔50亿美元贷款销售的敞口，因为投资者要求为与人工智能热潮相关的风险债务提供更高的收益率。作者：Claire Ruckin这两家银行正在主导为这家新成立的人工智能云公司Volta提供贷款。
JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. have taken a rare move to limit their exposure on a $5 billion loan sale for AI startup Volta Infrastructure Holdings Ltd. as investors demand higher yields for risky debt tied to the artificial intelligence boom. By Claire Ruckin The two banks are leading the loan offering for Volta, a new artificial intelligence cloud company.
它们已为Volta承销了13亿美元的定期贷款，但一笔37亿美元的芯片贷款则未由这两家银行承销。据熟悉该交易的人士称，此举是为了保护自身免受潜在风险的影响。
The banks have underwritten a $1.3 billion term loan for Volta, while a $3.7 billion chip loan is not underwritten by the banks — a move to protect themselves from potential risks, according to people familiar with the deal.
Volta的债务产品标称收益率约为11%，是近年来用于人工智能融资的杠杆贷款市场中最高的借贷成本之一。值得注意的是，该交易并未获得信用评级，而通常情况下，这会导致担保贷款义务（这类债务的最大买家）无法购买这些贷款。摩根大通、高盛和Volta的代表均拒绝发表评论。
Volta’s debt is being pitched with a yield of about 11%, one of the highest borrowing costs seen in the leveraged loan market that’s become popular for financing AI. Notably, the transaction is unrated, which would typically prevent collateralized loan obligations — the biggest buyers of this type of debt — from purchasing the loans. Representatives for JPMorgan, Goldman and Volta declined to comment.
贷款机构通常会为整个债务包提供承销服务，以向借款人保证，无论投资者是否购买，该交易都将获得融资。尽管承销对贷款机构而言是一项利润丰厚的业务，且通常与收购交易挂钩，但如果债务最终以低于与借款人约定价格的价格出售，甚至完全无法出售，贷款机构就可能面临风险。因此，为人工智能交易提供债务承诺的情况相对少见。
Lenders usually provide underwrites on an entire debt package to reassure borrowers that a deal will be financed whether investors buy it or not. While underwriting is a lucrative business for the lenders, and is usually tied to buyouts, it carries the risk of being left on the hook if the debt sells at a lower price than agreed on with the borrower or is not sold at all. Debt commitments for AI deals are more unsual.
银行方面担心重蹈2022年的覆辙。当时，由于利率迅速上升，市场陷入停滞，导致贷款机构因滞销债务堆积在资产负债表上而蒙受巨大损失。
Banks are wary of getting stung again like they were in 2022, when markets seized up amid rapid interest-rate hikes, leaving lenders with big losses from the hung debt stuck on their balance sheets.
应对风险的同时，为人工智能热潮提供资金——尤其是针对新成立或未经检验的公司进行交易——也迫使贷款方在杠杆融资市场采用了更为非传统的信贷审批结构。上述人士要求匿名，因为他们无权公开发表言论。他们补充说，银行正努力应对潜在风险，确保自身不会陷入被动。
Navigating Risks At the same time, funding the AI boom — especially with deals for new or untested companies — has required lenders to adopt less conventional underwriting structures in the leveraged finance market, the people said, asking not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak publicly. Banks are trying to navigate potential risks and make sure they aren’t caught out, they added.
Volta 属于被称为“新云公司”（neoclouds）的人工智能企业群体之一，这些公司主要出租芯片和其他人工智能基础设施的使用权。该公司此次的交易将用于资助位于挪威的一个数据中心综合体，该中心将由 Volta Infrastructure 与比特币矿企 Bitdeer Technologies Group 合作管理。据彭博社此前援引熟悉该协议的人士称，Anthropic PBC 已经与该数据中心签订了为期六年的计算能力协议。
Volta is among a group of AI companies known as neoclouds, which rent access to chips and other AI infrastructure. The company’s deal will be used to finance a data center complex in Norway that will be managed by Volta Infrastructure in partnership with Bitdeer Technologies Group, a Bitcoin miner that operates data centers. Anthropic PBC has already signed a six-year agreement for compute capacity at the site, Bloomberg previously reported, citing people familiar with the agreement.
彭博社此前报道，这笔 13 亿美元定期贷款将用于向 Bitdeer 支付租赁费用，以使用其数据中心。而 37 亿美元的芯片贷款则将用于采购约 3.6 万块由英伟达公司生产的图形处理器（GPU）。
The $1.3 billion term loan will be used to make lease payments to Bitdeer to use the data center, Bloomberg previously reported. The $3.7 billion chip loan will be used to purchase about 36,000 graphics processing units, or GPUs, made by Nvidia Corp.
华尔街已全力支持人工智能的发展，包括 CoreWeave Inc.、Lambda Inc. 和 Crusoe Inc. 在内的新云公司所进行的交易也证明，贷款方愿意为芯片采购提供融资。然而，这些早期的交易借款成本均低于 Volta 此次的交易。
Wall Street has thrown its weight behind the AI build out and deals by neoclouds including CoreWeave Inc., Lambda Inc. and Crusoe Inc. have proven that lenders are happy to finance chip purchases. Those earlier transactions, however, came at lower borrowing costs than Volta’s deal.
Volta 于今年早些时候由 Ricard Boada 和 Sofia Gumuzio 创立，两人均为 Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. 基础设施业务的前高管。该公司的目标是让顶尖的人工智能实验室和小型初创企业能够更轻松地支付英伟达尖端芯片的费用。
Volta was founded earlier this year by Ricard Boada and Sofia Gumuzio, two former executives from Brookfield Asset Management Ltd.’s infrastructure business. The company’s goal is to make it easier for top AI labs and smaller startups to pay for Nvidia’s cutting-edge chips.
该交易的最终承诺需于 10 月 14 日前完成。彭博社此前报道，JPMorgan 已于 8 月开始就这笔贷款向投资者进行初步沟通。
Commitments for the deal are due on October 14. JPMorgan had begun sounding out investors on the loan in August, Bloomberg previously reported.