Nvidia is reportedly in discussions to guarantee billions of dollars in debt financing for the Anthropic data center that Nscale plans to build in West Virginia. The Information first reported the talks on Thursday, and Bloomberg later corroborated that account.
Key details
- According to Nscale’s IPO filing, Anthropic has already signed a $44.6 billion contract for the project’s first building. That building is planned to provide 460 megawatts of capacity and is expected to use Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin chips.
- The proposed structure would be a residual value guarantee: if Nscale defaulted on construction payments, Nvidia would temporarily take control of the facility, help find a buyer and a new tenant, and thereby protect lenders.
- The companies are also negotiating a second deal for another building, valued at roughly $45 billion.
Why it matters
If completed, the arrangement would effectively have Nvidia co-signing customer loans, deepening its financial exposure to Nscale. The move illustrates how the AI infrastructure industry is scrambling to keep large-scale buildout plans on track as investor appetite for massive capital commitments cools.
Nscale and Anthropic’s position
- Nscale is pursuing an IPO with a potential valuation of up to $35 billion, but there are growing doubts about its ability to deliver on ambitious data-center projects.
- In August, Nscale had about 25,000 advanced AI chips in operation, a small fraction of the nearly 500,000 chips it plans to deploy.
- The West Virginia campus has faced local problems: runoff from the construction site has flooded nearby homes more than once. After months of negotiations, the project received state certification in September.
- This month, Microsoft withdrew from a planned Nscale site in England after grid power for that site was pushed into the 2030s.
Nvidia’s exposure and role
The Information reports that Nvidia has become a major financial backer of the sector, providing roughly $170 billion in investments and credit support to neoclouds and large customers. That assistance included a $1 billion convertible financing commitment to Nscale in September.
The proposed guarantee would not only help Nscale secure financing for electricity and construction costs, it would also help lock in a major chip buyer for Nvidia: Anthropic is one of the largest consumers of AI computing power and spreads its infrastructure spend across multiple chipmakers.
Anthropic’s financing questions
Anthropic faces its own financing scrutiny as it expands rapidly. The company filed to go public this week, but Blackstone warned investors that Anthropic could receive a below-investment-grade credit rating after its IPO. A junk rating would raise Anthropic’s borrowing costs and could push it to rely more heavily on stronger partners to back its debt.
Wider market context
Neoclouds — providers that rent AI compute without a cash-rich core business behind them — have come under investor pressure. Shares of CoreWeave, Nebius, and IREN each fell more than 30% in October, according to reporting.
Implications
If Nvidia signs the guarantee, it would lower financing risk for Nscale and increase the likelihood the West Virginia project moves forward, while simultaneously increasing Nvidia’s financial stake in a venture that has encountered regulatory, environmental and execution challenges. The talks are ongoing and have been disclosed by The Information and corroborated by Bloomberg.
