Nvidia weighs playing the cosigner for Nscale’s AI data center in West Virginia

Nvidia is in talks to guarantee billions in debt financing for AI cloud provider Nscale’s planned Anthropic data center in West Virginia, The Information reported Thursday. Bloomberg later corroborated the report. Anthropic has signed a $44.6 billion contract for the project’s first building alone, according to Nscale’s IPO filing. In essence, the chipmaker would be co-signing a customer’s loans, a sign of how hard the AI industry is working to keep its buildout plans afloat as investors grow jittery about the amounts of money involved.

The proposed arrangement would help Nscale secure financing for the electricity and construction costs of its West Virginia campus. Under what’s known as a residual value guarantee, Nvidia would step in if Nscale defaulted on construction payments, temporarily take over the facility, and help find a buyer and new tenant, according to The Information.

Nvidia’s earlier support for cloud providers has mostly covered leases and chip purchases, not construction.

The stakes are high for Nscale, which is seeking to go public at a valuation of up to $35 billion despite growing concerns about its ability to deliver on ambitious data center projects.

Anthropic’s contract with Nscale covers the first 460-megawatt building at Nscale’s West Virginia campus, which is expected to use Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin chips. The companies are also discussing a second deal worth roughly $45 billion for another building.