Anthropic signs preliminary US data center leases above 1 gigawatt, seeks Google guarantee ahead of IPO
Anthropic wants Google to backstop its compute bills. The AI firm has signed more than a dozen preliminary US data center leases topping 1 gigawatt and discussed having Google parent Alphabet $GOOGL guarantee the payments, per The Information via Reuters, as it preps for an IPO.
Anthropic is moving to control its own computing footprint, and it wants Google to help carry the financial risk. According to reporting from The Information carried by Reuters, the company has signed more than a dozen preliminary agreements to lease data centers in the United States with combined capacity above one gigawatt. The notable part is the financing structure: Anthropic executives have discussed an arrangement in which Google, part of Alphabet $GOOGL and a backer that co-designs some of the chips Anthropic could use, would provide a financial guarantee for the lease payments. Private credit firms Apollo $APO and Blackstone $BX have been discussed as suppliers of the financing. The push comes as Anthropic prepares for a US public listing, which raises the stakes around how it handles the long-term obligations that data center leases create. The arrangement reflects a broader pattern in AI. Model developers need guaranteed access to large amounts of compute, but the leases and buildouts behind that compute are expensive and long-dated. Having a deep-pocketed strategic partner backstop those commitments lets a younger company secure capacity it could not finance alone. Google declined to comment on the report, and Anthropic did not immediately respond to requests for comment.