Google Backs $35 Billion Chip Deal for Anthropic

Google has agreed to backstop lease payments for five U.S.-based data centers to enable AI startup Anthropic to secure approximately $35 billion in loans for computer chips. Under the arrangement, Google will repay bondholders if the AI cloud platform Fluidstack defaults or goes bankrupt once the centers are operational. The project involves a technical partnership where Broadcom Inc. designs the chips and Google develops the tensor processing units that Anthropic will utilize.

Financing for the initiative is provided by Apollo Global Management Inc. and Blackstone Inc. The data centers are being developed by TeraWulf Inc., Cipher Digital Inc., Hut 8 Corp., and a joint venture between Next Frontier and Fluidstack across New York, Texas, Louisiana, and Indiana. Anthropic has signed over a dozen preliminary agreements for facilities with a combined capacity exceeding 1 gigawatt to expand computing power for its Claude AI models.

This infrastructure expansion coincides with Anthropic's confidential filing for an initial public offering in the United States. In late May, the company raised $65 billion at a $965 billion valuation, placing it ahead of OpenAI. Alphabet Inc., Google's parent company, had previously noted an investment commitment of up to $40 billion to the startup.