Anthropic in talks to buy $45 billion in computing power from Nscale

Anthropic is in talks to buy about $45 billion in computing power from Nscale, the Nvidia-backed AI infrastructure company, Bloomberg reported on October 19, citing people familiar with the negotiations.

The proposed agreement would be Anthropic’s second contract of roughly that size with Nscale in two months. A deal could be finalized within days, though discussions are ongoing and terms could change, according to the report. Representatives for both companies declined to comment.

Second building at West Virginia campus

The new capacity would come from a second building at Nscale’s Monarch Compute Campus in West Virginia, with about 460 megawatts of power running on Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin chips. Anthropic also holds a right of first refusal on the campus’s expected third building, Bloomberg reported.

The talks follow a six-year agreement struck in August for about 460 megawatts at the same campus, with Vera Rubin systems scheduled to begin coming online in late 2027.

Backlog concentrated in two customers

Nscale filed for a US initial public offering on September 18, seeking a New York Stock Exchange listing under the ticker NSCL. Its filing showed $103.4 billion in active and contracted total contract value as of August 31.

Agreements with Microsoft provide for payments of up to $43.8 billion, while Anthropic’s existing agreements provide for up to about $44.6 billion. Both are subject to delivery and service availability requirements. Nscale is seeking a valuation of roughly $30 billion in the listing, according to Investing.com.

The company reported first-half 2026 revenue of $140.6 million, up from $10.4 million a year earlier, and a net loss of $1.02 billion. Nscale has said it has not yet secured binding commitments for the financing needed to buy the GPUs and build the data centers its contracts require.

Execution risk in focus

A second Anthropic contract would deepen Nscale’s reliance on a small number of customers while adding to the capital it must raise before the revenue arrives. Power availability has already slowed parts of its build-out, with its flagship UK project facing grid delays projected to stretch into the 2030s.

The talks come as investors scrutinize debt-funded AI infrastructure providers, with CoreWeave shares and bonds under pressure this month amid concerns about its borrowing.