Blackstone's khaira challenges fears over AI infrastructure debt

Jas Khaira of Blackstone dismissed concerns over AI infrastructure debt, citing the firm's $5 billion investment in Crux AI and a $2.3 billion loan to CoreWeave, now with $50 billion in debt. Khaira argued that debt is backed by Microsoft and Meta, deemed creditworthy, and that Blackstone's $1.5 billion joint venture with Anthropic, Ode, aids AI integration. Despite stock declines and canceled IPOs, he remains optimistic, calling AI buildout essential for advanced models. Khaira acknowledged uneven ROI, describing adoption as 'sawtooth,' with high compute availability preceding broader use. Blackstone continues investing in data centers and neoclouds, positioning itself as a key player in the AI boom, with flexible capital structures and strategic compute financing seen as critical for sector growth amid rising borrowing costs.