Meta, SpaceX, and Anthropic Launch $135 Billion Capital Push as AI Funding Tightens

Meta Platforms, SpaceX, and Anthropic have launched a combined $135 billion capital raise this week, a move that underscores the intense competition for funding in the artificial intelligence sector. The simultaneous announcements signal that the easy money for AI startups is drying up, forcing even the largest players to seek substantial new resources to continue building their infrastructure.

Meta announced a plan to raise as much as $95 billion in three distinct steps. The first step involves selling $22.5 billion in Class A common stock at $642.62 per share. The second step includes a $12.5 billion issuance of preferred shares. The final step, scheduled for next year, will see the company raise $60 billion through an at-the-market offering of non-voting Class C shares.

SpaceX, which is expanding into AI infrastructure, confirmed it has closed a $40 billion debt financing deal specifically for graphics processing units. The company intends to build its AI systems exclusively on Nvidia hardware. Elon Musk described the current debt market environment on X, noting that lenders have largely cut off access to capital for companies that do not have substantial revenue independent of AI data centers.

Anthropic, the frontier AI lab, filed its initial public offering prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. The company did not disclose its share price or initial raise amount in the filing, though analysts estimate the raise could reach tens of billions of dollars, or even $100 billion, given the company's disclosed financial commitments. Its valuation could reach as high as $2 trillion.

The capital crunch is already visible in the smaller cloud market. CoreWeave, a prominent neocloud provider, has lost 60% of its value since its year-to-date high of nearly $139 on May 6. Its stock hit a 52-week low of just above $51 on Monday before recovering slightly. Musk warned that more than 200 neoclouds face consolidation, predicting that only a few will survive the pressure.

Large technology firms with strong core businesses are positioned to benefit from this consolidation. Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet all report quarterly results this week, with funding expected to be a major topic of discussion. UBS analysts suggest Amazon's 2027 capital expenditures could exceed $300 billion, even as they raised their price target for the company.

The market is currently weighing the immediate risks of funding uncertainty against the long-term potential of AI demand. Investors are increasingly looking at companies with diversified revenue streams, such as Microsoft's enterprise software and Amazon's e-commerce, as a buffer against the volatility in the pure-play AI sector.