Nvidia-backed Nscale, Anthropic in talks for new $45 billion AI cloud deal, source says

Oct 19: Nscale is in talks to sell AI computing power to Anthropic, the company behind Claude, in a new deal that could be worth about $45 billion, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday.

The data center developer is seeking another major deal with the AI company to build a second facility at its Monarch data center campus in West Virginia, the person said.

In August, Anthropic agreed to spend $45 billion to rent AI cloud computing power from Nscale's data center campus in West Virginia. According to the source, a second building at Monarch would provide 460 megawatts of computing power using Nvidia's advanced Vera Rubin AI chips.

Anthropic did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.

Anthropic also has the right to be offered the deal first for Monarch's planned third building, the person said. The talks are still ongoing, and details of the plan could change.

Bloomberg, which first reported the news, also said that a group of investors had urged Anthropic to lower its target valuation for an initial public offering (IPO) after several setbacks in the AI market.

Investors are taking a closer look at companies that are increasingly using debt to expand their AI infrastructure. Last week, Nscale rival CoreWeave's shares fell sharply amid concerns about its $50 billion in debt, helping trigger a worldwide selloff in AI stocks.

The possible deal comes after Microsoft withdrew from an agreement to be the main customer for a major Nscale data center. Delays in connecting the facility to the power grid pushed its expected supply date into the 2030s.

Nscale has grown quickly since it launched. In two and a half years, the total value of its contracted deals rose from $100 million to more than $103 billion. It competes with Nebius, Crusoe and Lambda.

According to Nscale's prospectus, Microsoft and Anthropic are expected to be the company's main customers in the future.