Banks in talks to lend $15 billion for Anthropic data center backed by Google, WSJ reports

Data-center developer Nexus Data Centers is in advanced talks to raise $15 billion for a Texas campus tied to Anthropic, with Alphabet's Google offering financial guarantees and supplying chips, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The proposed financing represents one of the largest private debt packages in the rapidly expanding AI infrastructure sector, underscoring how deeply tech giants and financial institutions are now intertwined in the race to build computing capacity. As demand for AI processing power continues to outstrip supply, Big Tech has been pouring billions of dollars into data centers and related energy infrastructure, making large-scale project finance a critical enabler of growth.

A bank group led by Morgan Stanley is discussing financing for the project in Hubbard, Texas, which includes a natural-gas-fired power plant capable of producing 1.6 gigawatts of electricity, according to the report. The financing package includes a $14 billion bridge loan and a revolving credit facility, reflecting the scale and complexity of the undertaking.

Under the proposed structure, Google has agreed to guarantee billions of dollars of Anthropic's lease and power-payment commitments if the startup defaults, the WSJ said. The tech giant's backing was limited to the minimum level required by lenders to complete the financing, a detail that suggests Google sought to cap its exposure while still enabling the deal to move forward. The guarantees cover four data-center leases signed by Anthropic and related power-purchase agreements for electricity from an on-site plant.

In return for its support, Google is expected to receive an equity stake of about 20 percent in the data-center and power project. Anthropic plans to equip the site with tensor processing units, chips co-designed by Google and Broadcom, according to the report. Those chips would be funded through a separate vendor-financing agreement between Anthropic and Broadcom, adding another layer of financial engineering to the project.

The deal, if completed, would mark a significant milestone in the convergence of AI development, energy infrastructure, and capital markets. It also highlights the growing role of strategic investors like Google in de-risking large-scale AI data center projects, while banks and other lenders are increasingly willing to back such ventures with substantial debt financing. Industry observers note that the structure could serve as a template for future projects, particularly those that require dedicated on-site power generation to meet the intensive energy demands of AI workloads.

Anthropic declined to comment when contacted by Reuters, while Google and Morgan Stanley did not immediately respond.