Anthropic signs $35 billion cloud deal with Nvidia

Summary

Anthropic signed a $35 billion cloud computing contract with Nvidia. The deal is anchored by the Beacon Point data center campus in Nueces County, Texas, being built by Hut 8, a company that transitioned from Bitcoin mining to data center development. Nvidia holds the sublease for the campus, while Lambda serves as the intermediary cloud provider. This agreement is part of Anthropic's effort to secure over 10 GW of computing capacity through more than a dozen data center and cloud contracts while preparing for a confidential IPO.

Why it matters

The deal's structure has heightened investor concerns. Nvidia is financing the infrastructure, then leasing it to Lambda, a next-generation cloud provider it has invested in. Lambda, in turn, resells the capacity to Anthropic. This deepens concerns about circular financing that may be inflating Nvidia's $4.6 trillion valuation. It also highlights that the primary constraint in the AI race is computing capacity rather than model quality. It is notable that a company is taking on multi-year, multi-billion dollar obligations to secure this capacity ahead of an IPO.

Highlights

• Beacon Point campus: 525 acres near Corpus Christi, targeting 1 GW, expected to become operational in Q1 2027, under construction by Hut 8
• The actual cloud provider is Nvidia-backed Lambda. The fee Lambda will pay Nvidia for the space has not been disclosed
• Anthropic has signed over 12 letters of intent for data center leasing, in addition to a $45 billion deal with Nscale and a $200 billion contract with Google

Critical take

The article clearly points out the circular structure. Nvidia finances its partner, the partner buys Nvidia chips, and the end customer pays for compute. However, the $35 billion figure is presented simply as a 'contract value' without clarifying how much of it represents genuine third-party revenue versus internal ecosystem circular flows. The rent Lambda will pay Nvidia is still unknown. Furthermore, the facility will not be operational until 2027. Therefore, the headline figure may exaggerate the short-term economic reality.