Nvidia reportedly weighs backing billions in debt for Nscale’s Anthropic data center

Nvidia could become more than the chip supplier for Nscale’s planned West Virginia data center for Anthropic. It is discussing a guarantee for billions of dollars in project debt to cover construction and electricity, TechCrunch reported, citing The Information and subsequent corroboration by Bloomberg.

How Nvidia could end up holding the facility

The proposed arrangement would make Nvidia something like a co-signer for Nscale, rather than simply a seller collecting payment for chips. Its backing would help Nscale secure financing for the physical campus. The costs at issue include both building the data center and providing the electricity needed for the project.

The Information described the structure as a residual value guarantee. Under the reported terms, a default on Nscale’s construction payments would trigger Nvidia’s involvement. Nvidia would temporarily take over the facility and help find a buyer and a new tenant. That gives the proposed support a concrete consequence beyond a promise to help arrange funding.

The distinction is what Nvidia would be supporting. Its earlier backing for cloud providers has mostly covered leases and chip purchases, according to TechCrunch. This proposal reaches into construction itself, tying Nvidia’s potential obligations to the delivery of the building, not just the equipment that would go inside it.

Anthropic’s contract anchors the project

The campus already has a substantial customer commitment. Anthropic signed a $44.6 billion contract for its first building, according to Nscale’s IPO filing, as cited by TechCrunch. That building is a 460-megawatt facility. The contract figure covers the first building alone; it is not the amount Nvidia is reportedly considering guaranteeing.

Nscale and Anthropic are also discussing a roughly $45 billion deal for another building at the campus. That remains a prospective expansion, separate from the signed first-building contract.

An additional obligation, not Nvidia’s first commitment

Nvidia already committed $1 billion in convertible financing to Nscale in September, TechCrunch reported. The construction guarantee now under discussion would be an additional form of support, rather than another description of that earlier commitment.

The West Virginia project received state certification in September, after months of negotiations.