Argentum AI, a cloud computing firm backed by American information technology company Super Micro Computer, is in reported talks to secure USD 5 billion in financing for artificial intelligence (AI) chips from a major private credit firm.
The report emerges amid tightening funding conditions for companies renting computing power to businesses.
One of the sources, cited by Reuters, said the financing would fund additional chips for a data centre in Poland that Argentum secured with DL Invest Group.
The debt would cover chips leased to customers that do not have investment-grade credit ratings.
“Argentum has secured more than USD 12 billion in contracted revenue,” the source said.
The proposed deal comes as investors grow increasingly concerned about the sustainability of debt-funded investment in AI infrastructure, particularly among so-called neocloud companies that rent out computing capacity to other businesses.
Elon Musk wrote on the popular micro-blogging platform X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday that debt markets had almost entirely shut off access to financing for companies without substantial revenue independent of AI data centres.
The tech titan further predicted that more than 200 neocloud companies would face what he described as “guppy-level death and consolidation”.
Musk’s SpaceX secured USD 40 billion in chip financing from an affiliate of Apollo Global Management this week.
The tech titan attributed the deal to the company’s investment-grade credit rating and revenue from its Starlink satellite business and rocket launches.
AI cloud services provider Nebius also secured a USD 3.5 billion financing facility from Citi last week to fund further data centre development and GPU purchases as it expands its capacity.
Argentum, founded in 2025, is led by Chief Executive Andrew Sobko and operates as an independent AI cloud platform focused on deploying large-scale graphics processing unit (GPU) infrastructure for enterprise AI applications.
In May, the Chicago-based startup signed a roughly USD 2.5 billion deal with cloud gaming firm Boosteroid and DL Invest Group for a 300-megawatt data centre.
At the time, Argentum said it was working with US financial institutions and investment banks on financing structures for future deployments.
Despite the positive news around Argentum AI, concerns remain about the debt burden associated with AI infrastructure expansion, which has also weighed on publicly traded neocloud and data centre companies.
Investors betting against five US companies, CoreWeave, IREN, Nebius Group, Applied Digital and Core Scientific, have generated USD 6 billion in paper profits so far in October, following a selloff driven by fears that their debt-funded expansion plans may be unsustainable.
Short interest in the five companies ranged from around 20% to 26% of their free float, according to data analytics firm ORTEX.
CoreWeave’s short interest stood at 23.7% of its free float, up from 19.6% at the start of October and slightly above the 22.7% recorded at the beginning of 2026.
Short sellers have made nearly USD 1.7 billion in paper profits from CoreWeave trades this month, as its shares fell almost 30%.
Nebius recorded a short interest of 20% of its free float, compared with 15.4% at the start of 2023.
Investors betting against the company generated USD 2.94 billion in paper profits in October, although they remained down USD 3.33 billion on a year-to-date basis.
Short sellers targeting data centre operators IREN and Applied Digital have recorded combined paper profits exceeding USD 1.2 billion this month.
Core Scientific also faced substantial bearish positioning, with short interest at 23.1% of its free float.
Investors betting against the company recorded USD 115 million in paper profits in October.
ORTEX reported that investors sold short approximately USD 17 billion worth of shares across the five companies, while borrowing costs remained relatively low.