Credit research · historical case studies
The cash path, not the headline.
Four AI infrastructure financings, and the conditions that matter to credit.
Research as of · Selected 2025 transactions
The question in an AI-infrastructure financing is not simply how many dollars were raised. It is who must pay, when the physical project begins producing contracted cash, what the lender can reach if that cash fails, and which protections depend on a condition that has not yet occurred. Four filed transactions make those distinctions concrete.
Four financings, four ways to bear risk
GPU / customer-contract loan
CoreWeave DDTL 3.0
$2.6 billion delayed-draw commitments; SOFR-loan margin of 4.00%; a 1.40x minimum DSCR covenant. The filed parent guarantee excludes obligations of the Co-Borrower from its defined guaranteed obligations.
Open question: Which borrower-level assets and contract cash are available to each creditor, and how much parent recourse actually survives a shortfall?
Primary filings: credit agreement, 8-K, guarantee.
Tenant-backed project loan
Galaxy Helios Phase I
$1.4 billion commitment; a 4.75% spread and 2.50% rate floor; 80% maximum loan-to-cost before stabilization and 1.40x minimum historical DSCR after it. The agreement describes at least 132.7 MW of critical power for CoreWeave when completed.
Open question: Can construction, power availability and rent commencement meet the debt's timing? The 80% test is loan-to-cost, not a disclosed LTV or current residual-value mark.
Primary filing: credit agreement.
Tenant-backed secured notes
Cipher Barber Lake
$1.4 billion initial principal of 7.125% notes due 2030. The filed 8-K says no principal amortization is payable before facility completion. The indenture names a Fluidstack lease and a Google Financial Support Agreement.
Open question: What payment does the support agreement require, under which triggers, and where does it sit in the cash waterfall?
Tenant-backed secured notes
TeraWulf Lake Mariner
$3.2 billion initial principal of 7.750% notes due 2030. The filed 8-K ties amortization for each data-center building to that building's completion. The indenture addresses Fluidstack as tenant and names a Google Financial Support Agreement.
Open question: How do completion, lease cash, lockbox arrangements and noteholder remedies interact under stress?
The useful distinction
The loan spreads and note coupons above are different kinds of pricing on different instruments, issued at different times. Averaging them would not produce a sector financing cost. Nor should the initial note issuance amounts be read as today's outstanding debt. The filed instruments, not the headline financing totals, define the first layer of credit exposure.
For Helios, a planned-power figure is not evidence of delivered capacity or rent-paying operation. Its 80% loan-to-cost covenant is not an LTV: the agreement separately defines an LTV using an as-stabilized appraisal basis, but this partial review does not establish an appraised value or measured LTV. Helios credit agreement.
For the secured notes, a named financial support agreement is not, by itself, proof of an unconditional guarantee of note principal. A trader assessing a public parent, or a lender comparing recourse, needs the operative obligation and trigger—not just the counterparty name in a definition. Cipher indenture, TeraWulf indenture.
What we will watch next
The next documents to resolve are the construction draw and rent-commencement conditions at Helios; the precise scope of the support and lockbox arrangements for the notes; later note add-ons and current outstanding balances; and any dated appraisal or observable residual-value evidence. These are open research questions, not findings that any deal is weak or in breach. We will mark a term as unknown or redacted when that is what the source review supports, and correct the record when a new primary filing changes it.
Source and scope note
This is a selected, historical four-deal comparison drawn from filed SEC documents archived and checked in SpotWire's internal credit research register. Each individual term is source-backed, but these four deals are not fully normalized across all credit terms. No current covenant compliance, present outstanding debt, market price, rating or probability of default is asserted. SpotWire's collection indices are separate from this editorial analysis. Readers should use the linked primary filings for any consequential decision.
For corrections or a source challenge, contact press@spotwire.ai.