Amazon explores $8B sale-leaseback of Nvidia AI chips

Amazon is reportedly exploring a sale-leaseback arrangement involving approximately $8 billion worth of Nvidia Grace Blackwell AI chips. The plan involves transferring the hardware into a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) to move the assets off Amazon's balance sheet while allowing the company to continue using the compute power via leases.

The proposed structure would allow the SPV to issue debt and potentially offer up to a 10% equity stake to external investors. The chips, which are already installed and operational across more than a dozen American data centers spanning five states, including Nevada and Virginia, would remain in place to support Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure.

This move reflects a broader trend in the AI industry where high-cost hardware is increasingly treated as a financial asset capable of supporting complex debt and leasing structures. By utilizing an SPV, Amazon aims to adopt a more asset-light approach to its massive capital expenditures, which are projected to exceed $200 billion this year to support AI and data center expansion.