Reports: Anthropic signs $45bn cloud computing deal with Nscale

Anthropic has reportedly signed a $45 billion cloud computing deal with Nscale as the AI developer aims to scale compute resources.

Sources at the companies told CNBC the six-year deal will see Anthropic access 460MW of Nvidia's next-gen chips at the Monarch Compute Campus, starting at the end of next year.

The West Virginia site is expected to begin operations at the end of next, and will host Nvidia’s Vera Rubin chips.

Anthropic is yet to respond to a request for comment from ITPro. A spokesperson for Nscale said they could not confirm details from the reports.

Anthropic has signed similar deals recently aimed at scaling compute capacity, including a $5 billion deal with AMD. The company also struck a deal with SpaceX to cover up to 300MW of compute capacity. The AI developer also has an existing deal with Oracle.

London-based data center startup Nscale was spun out of an Australian bitcoin mining company in 2024, and was earlier this year valued at $14.6bn following a $2bn fundraising round. An IPO is widely expected to land imminently.

Anthropic isn’t alone in striking infrastructure deals, either. Major players including OpenAI have also invested incredible sums to build or rent compute capacity, helping to spark record results for cloud computing companies.

Last month, Google Cloud posted revenue growth of 82% — its best quarterly growth yet.

Monarch compute

In January, the American Intelligence and Power Corporation (AIPCorp) unveiled its plans to build the 2,250-acre Monarch Compute Campus in Mason County, West Virginia, dubbing it the first state-certified microgrid-based AI project.

The site boasts up to 2GW of power generated on campus by natural gas scaling to 8GW. The first phase is set to open at the end of 2027, and it is expected to become one of the largest AI infrastructure projects yet.

Two months after the unveiling, Nscale announced it had acquired AIPCorp, including the Monarch Compute Campus — and signed Microsoft as its first customer for 1.35GW of AI compute on Nvidia's next-gen Vera Rubin GPUs.

While the data center is drawing big-name AI customers, locals have complained about construction disruption causing damage to local streets and causing floods, with one report saying 60% of homeowners in nearby areas sold and moved rather than live near the campus.

Advocacy groups have raised concerns about water use, though Nscale has pledged there will be no impact on municipal water supply or residential users. As the campus is off-grid, local electricity prices or supply won't be impacted, but environmental groups have warned about the climate impact of the use of natural gas for generation.

A report from EY estimates the data centre will make up more than a third of Mason County's economy once operational.

Nscale has multiple sites planned — including Essex in the UK, and Texas — and one operational data center in Norway, with another set to open in the country imminently.

Beyond that, Nscale has several partner-run data centers in Europe and North America.

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