Nscale pursues 60 trillion won Anthropic compute deal as IPO push revives - CHOSUNBIZ

Bloomberg News reported on October 19, citing people familiar with the matter, that Nscale, a UK-based company that provides cloud computing services, is seeking a deal worth about $45 billion (about 60.4 trillion won) to provide computing power to Anthropic. The talks have drawn attention because they could ease concerns about Nscale's delayed initial public offering (IPO). Those concerns grew after a deal with Microsoft (MS) fell through and debates about a possible artificial intelligence (AI) bubble unsettled the market.

According to the report, the proposed deal covers the second building at the Monarch data center campus that Nscale is developing in West Virginia. The building is expected to contain 460 megawatts (MW) of computing equipment powered by Nvidia's next-generation graphics processing unit (GPU), called "Vera Rubin." The sources also said Anthropic has the right of first refusal on the third building planned for Monarch. This means Anthropic has the first chance to agree to a deal for that building before other potential customers.

In the first phase of the Monarch data center project, Nscale plans to build three facilities with a combined capacity of 1.37 gigawatts (GW). The company aims to finish them in the first half of 2028.

If the deal is finalized within the next few days, it could also help move Nscale's IPO plans forward. Nscale is seeking to go public at a target company value of $30 billion (about 40.3 trillion won). However, Bloomberg reported that some investors have asked the company to lower its target valuation as concerns grow about whether investment in AI data centers can be sustained over time.

Major international media outlets have reported that Microsoft, which agreed in March to sign a data center lease with Nscale, recently pulled out of the deal. This disrupted Nscale's IPO schedule.

Documents that Nscale filed publicly last month as part of its plan to list shares in the United States show that Anthropic has already signed an infrastructure contract with Nscale worth up to about $44.6 billion (about 59.9 trillion won). Anthropic aims to launch its IPO around the middle of next month. It is also working faster to secure enough computing power to support its rapid growth.

Anthropic has also reportedly signed contracts worth $50 billion (about 66.4 trillion won) with FluidStack, $45 billion (about 59.7 trillion won) with SpaceX, and $10 billion (about 13.2 trillion won) with Volta Infrastructure.