Invest2 publishers2 min readPublished
Sharon AI pays 9.95% to borrow $356m against its GPUs
Sharon AI signed a $356m loan facility at a fixed 9.95% with Goldman Sachs and private credit funds, secured on its GPUs and their contract cash flows. Fees come on top, so 9.95% is the least Sharon AI pays to fund chips its customers have already contracted for.
The Investor · Invest desk
What happened
- The deal is the first in an expected series of GPU financings for a build-out of more than 68,000 Nvidia GPUs by mid-2027.
- Chief executive James Manning put the company's customer offtake book at a total contract value of over $8.8bn.
- Counting this facility, Sharon AI has raised more than $2.6bn of institutional debt and equity over the past ten months.
- The largest single piece was a $1.6bn round in June 2026, made up of about $900m in equity and warrants and $700m of convertible notes due 2032.
Compiled by The InvestorSomething wrong?How this is made
Why it matters
- cost Fully drawn, the facility needs about $35.4m a year in interest plus undisclosed fees, paid out of contracted GPU cash flows before shareholders see any return.
- decision Borrowing at 9.95% lifts return on equity only if the financed GPUs earn more than the all-in cost, a hurdle Sharon AI now has to clear on every tranche it adds.
- exposure Each secured SPV puts a block of GPUs and their cash flows first in line for its own lenders, ahead of holders of the $700m of convertible notes due 2032.
A rate just under 10% has at least three explanations. One is the collateral, a case Crypto Briefing made when it wrote that "GPUs are not buildings: they age, and newer generations arrive on a regular cadence" [10]. Another is the borrower: this is Sharon AI's first GPU-backed facility [1]. Part of the price may also be the cost of fixing the rate for the life of the loan.
The release does not disclose the size of the fees, the term, how much was advanced against each chip, or which customer contracts sit inside the special purpose vehicle. Without those, one deal cannot separate the first two explanations. I think 9.95% is the price of one borrower's package of chips and contracts, and a market rate for GPU collateral will take more deals than this one.
The package matters because the lenders are secured on the GPUs and their associated cash flows [2], and the money funds infrastructure dedicated to customer contracts [3]. Against the contract book the facility looks small: $356m is about 4% of the $8.8bn Sharon AI cites [2]. That ratio overstates the cover. The lenders can reach only the cash flows of the chips inside their own vehicle.
Sharon AI funded this tranche without selling stock. Take June's $1.6bn round and this facility out of the $2.6bn total, and roughly $644m or more came from other raises in the same ten months [3]. "This is designed to enhance return on equity and ultimately drive increased long-term shareholder value," James Manning, the chief executive, said [8].
The facility is the first of an expected series [5], so the test comes quickly. If a later tranche on the same kind of collateral prices well below 9.95%, most of this premium was Sharon AI paying for a short record as a borrower. If later tranches hold near 10% after the company has drawn and serviced this one, the lenders are pricing the chips.
What to watch
- A filing or later announcement that states the facility's fees and term, turning 9.95% into an all-in cost that can be compared with other debt.
- Progress toward 68,000 GPUs installed by mid-2027, since the SPV lenders are repaid from chips that are deployed and billing customers.