Nvidia weighs billion-dollar guarantees for 460-megawatt Anthropic data center
Key Facts
Nvidia is in talks to provide Nscale with billions of dollars in credit guarantees to support financing for a 460-megawatt data center Anthropic plans to use, according to a report by The Information. The project concerns the first building at the Monarch campus in West Virginia, which is designated to host Nvidia graphics processing units. The guarantees are being explored as Nscale says it has not secured binding financing commitments to cover performance of its agreements with Anthropic. This separates the value of the computing services Nscale may provide from the funds needed to build and operate the infrastructure. Project financing is a key point in a deal that depends on delivering computing capacity on specific dates.
The Information described the contract as a $45 billion deal to lease capacity in the first building, while Nscale’s disclosure says the guarantees Nvidia is considering relate to development debt for the facility. The contract’s value does not mean the financing needed for construction has become available or guaranteed. According to the disclosure, Anthropic’s agreements cover dedicated computing infrastructure at the Monarch campus, with NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72 units deployed in four tranches. Those tranches tie performance of the agreement to the phased provision of computing capacity. Nscale’s ability to secure equipment and infrastructure therefore remains part of the conditions for fulfilling its obligations to Anthropic.
Nscale said in its disclosure that, as of the date of the prospectus, it had not secured the binding financing commitments needed to fulfill its Anthropic agreements. It also committed to using its best efforts to secure qualified financing for GPU equipment and infrastructure at Monarch. The disclosure matters because the project involves more than buying computing units; it requires a facility, power and equipment sufficient to operate them. The agreement’s terms show that delivery is central to the commercial relationship between the companies. If Nscale fails to meet the agreed deadlines for any tranche, the disclosure allows Anthropic to terminate that tranche without liability. Financing and delivery timing thus remain linked to Nscale’s ability to fulfill the contract.
The Monarch campus is in Mason County, West Virginia, on a site covering about 2,250 acres. Nscale’s disclosure expects the site’s initial total power capacity to reach 2 gigawatts, with operations beginning in the first half of 2028. The first building tied to the Anthropic contract has capacity of 460 megawatts, according to The Information. The project is part of a broader expansion of Nscale’s computing infrastructure, with the facility needing power supplies and equipment before service can begin. These timelines show that full-site operations are planned for a period after the disclosure, while the contract’s obligations are tied to delivery in tranches.
Nscale’s figures reflect the scale of its infrastructure portfolio and contractual obligations. The company said it had about 25,000 active GPU units as of August 31, 2026, and about 461,000 active or contracted units. Active and contracted capacity totaled about 1.37 gigawatts on the same date. The value of active and contracted agreements reached about $103.4 billion on August 31, 2026, compared with about $38.0 billion on December 31, 2025. The increase places the Anthropic agreement within a growing base of commitments, while securing the financing needed to fulfill those contracts remains a challenge disclosed by the company.
Separately from the guarantees under consideration for the project, Nscale’s disclosure includes a subscription agreement with Nvidia for an original amount of at least $3.1 billion. The agreement comprises $2.1 billion in convertible loan notes and an additional $1 billion in notes or non-voting shares. Closing was expected on or around November 16, 2026, according to the disclosure. This financing deal is separate from potential debt guarantees for the Monarch center and should not be counted as confirmed financing for the Anthropic contract. Nvidia also disclosed, in its second-quarter fiscal 2027 report, a maximum aggregate exposure of $3.5 billion under guarantees for land, power and buildings for data centers belonging to selected cloud partners as of July 26, 2026; those guarantees are separate from the discussions involving Nscale.