2026 Predictions: Cash-Strapped Oracle Issues Chip-Backed Debt
The move could make it easier for Oracle to get its data centers ready for customers like OpenAI.
Oracle has a real problem: It’s committed to building huge chip-filled data centers for OpenAI, but it doesn’t have the cash to do so.
So far, the company has been able to defray the upfront costs of constructing the data center’s physical buildings, but it will soon need to fill those structures with Nvidia chips to power OpenAI’s model training and ChatGPT usage. These chips are the priciest part of assembling any such data center, and if Oracle can’t come up with the funds, it could miss its window to purchase the servers and end up losing business.
I see an answer to Oracle’s problem: the asset-backed securities markets. I think the company will get creative and structure a transaction where it raises debt by collateralizing the chips it already owns—and then use those funds to buy more chips.