How does one structure a GPU-secured loan when some of the offtakers of user contracts are Chinese companies, which face ownership restrictions on the collateral? It’s a question that’s caused sleepless nights for some bankers in Asia.
The question arose because a potential loan of about $3bn to $4bn is currently in the works, to be secured by graphics processing units (GPUs) that will be purchased for a data center in Indonesia, 9fin sources said. Adding complexity to the deal, however, is that some of the end users of the center include Chinese players, which face legal restrictions on purchasing some processing units.
If completed, the transaction would be the first billion-dollar-plus GPU financing provided mainly by Asia Pacific banks.
So far, private credit lenders have dominated the region’s GPU financing. Though they require higher returns than banks, they’re more adventurous when it comes to riskier loans and more willing to accept novel asset types — such as GPUs — as collateral. Asian banks, on the other hand, have been slower to accept such collateral over the last two years.
Now though, if bankers can come up with a loan structure that passes their legal and credit departments, GPU financing...
