Anthropic is in talks with Britain’s neocloud Nscale for a second multibillion-dollar deal to lease computing power at its U.S. locations, people familiar with the matter told CNBC.
The deal covers a second 460-megawatt data center at the same West Virginia site as the first contract, officials said. The person requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the talks. The deal could be worth about $45 billion, the people said.
CNBC first reported the deal in August.
Bloomberg first reported that Anthropic and Nscale were in talks for a second deal. Antropic declined to comment. Nscale has been contacted for comment.
AI infrastructure faces headwinds
Nvidia-backed Nscale is one of several companies that have emerged in recent years to develop the infrastructure needed to power artificial intelligence. The company builds or leases data centers and sells computing power to hyperscalers and AI labs.
rival core weave and Nevius The company’s stock price has fallen 28% and 27%, respectively, over the past month due to concerns about its large borrowings.
Nscale faces unique challenges. On Sunday, British newspaper the Telegraph reported that Microsoft had withdrawn from its contract to be based at its Nscale data center outside London amid delays in connecting to the country’s electricity grid.
An Nscale spokesperson told CNBC that the company remains “committed” to the project and is “exploring alternative power sources for the site.”
“Our relationship with Microsoft remains strong and long-term, and this unfortunate London-wide power grid issue will not impact on our other contracts,” the spokesperson added.
The UK-based company filed to list on the New York Stock Exchange in September.
Anthropic’s Computing Advancement
Anthropic said earlier this year that increased demand for its Claude AI models and products was putting an “inevitable strain” on its infrastructure.
Since then, the company has announced a flurry of deals with infrastructure partners aimed at increasing its computing power, including major deals with Advanced Micro Devices, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Google and Broadcom.
