Nvidia in talks to back loans for an Anthropic data center in West Virginia, reports say

Nvidia, the Santa Clara company whose chips run most AI systems, is in talks to guarantee billions of dollars in loans for a data center being built for Anthropic, The Information reported, according to TechCrunch and Reuters. Bloomberg later confirmed the talks, The Next Web reported. The deal has not been signed and its terms could change, Reuters said. Nscale declined to comment to Bloomberg, and Nvidia did not respond.

A data center is a building full of computers. The builder is Nscale, a London-based AI cloud company, which rents out computing power for AI. Companies like it are often called neoclouds because they lack a big, cash-rich business behind them, TechCrunch noted. Anthropic, maker of the Claude chatbot, signed a contract worth up to $44.6 billion for the first building at Nscale's Monarch campus in Mason County, West Virginia, which is planned to use 460 megawatts of power and hold Nvidia's next-generation Vera Rubin chips, according to Nscale's Sept. 18 filing to sell stock to the public.

Under the plan, called a residual value guarantee, Nvidia would back the building itself rather than the chips or the lease, The Information reported, according to a summary published by Tiger Brokers. If Nscale missed construction payments, Nvidia would pay on its behalf, temporarily take over the site and help sell it and find a new tenant. That works much like co-signing a loan, and it would help Nscale borrow at lower, investment-grade interest rates, the report said.

Why Nvidia would do it

The main reason is to keep selling chips. Nscale's filing says it had not yet lined up binding commitments for any of the money needed to build for Anthropic, and Anthropic can cancel a phase without penalty if Nscale delivers late. Without financing, the building, and the Nvidia chips meant for it, might not happen.

Nvidia has described this strategy in its own reports. In August, it said many AI cloud companies "are growing faster than their balance sheets and long-term credit profiles can support," so it helps select customers secure land, power and buildings at sites that can support "multiple generations of NVIDIA compute." For a far bigger guarantee on an OpenAI data center site in Ohio, Nvidia estimated each generation of its equipment there could mean about $150 billion to $200 billion in Nvidia revenue.

It also keeps Nvidia close to Anthropic. Anthropic buys chips from several suppliers instead of relying mainly on Nvidia, and one investor told The Information that Anthropic's role likely explains Nvidia's interest. Nvidia agreed in November 2025 to invest up to $10 billion in Anthropic, and Anthropic committed to use up to one gigawatt of computing on Nvidia systems, the companies announced. Neoclouds also matter more to Nvidia as big customers such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon design their own chips, The Information reported.

What it costs Nvidia

A guarantee is a promise to pay only if something goes wrong, so it may cost Nvidia little cash up front. The amount and any fee Nscale would pay have not been disclosed. Based on an industry estimate of about $12 billion to build the shell of a one-gigawatt data center, the support could top $5 billion, The Information reported.

For comparison, Nvidia had $56.6 billion in cash and short-term investments at the end of July and reported record quarterly revenue of $96.2 billion. It already guarantees up to $3.5 billion of land, power and building costs for AI cloud partners and up to $105 billion for the OpenAI site in Ohio, its filings show. It counts such guarantees as "credit derivatives" and said their value on its books was "not significant." Including investments, Nvidia has extended roughly $170 billion in support to neoclouds and large customers, The Information reported.

What Nvidia could gain

Nvidia has been paid in stock for backing Nscale before. In October 2025 it agreed to guarantee up to $860.3 million of Nscale's lease on a Texas facility. In return it got warrants, the right to buy shares later for a penny each, covering up to 9,476,700 Nscale preferred shares worth $60 million at the time, plus extra warrants that kick in if Nscale defaults on that lease, Nscale's filing says. Whether the West Virginia deal includes anything similar has not been disclosed.

Nvidia already owns more than 5% of Nscale and is set to put in another $1 billion around Nov. 16, the filing says, so a successful project would also lift the value of that stake.

Does it make financial sense?

The bet appears to be that a promise backed by Nvidia's strong finances, which costs little unless things go wrong, unlocks data centers that buy its chips for years. The risk is tying more of Nvidia's fortunes to young, money-losing companies. Nscale lost $1.02 billion in the first half of 2026 on revenue of $140.6 million, its filing shows. Shares of neoclouds CoreWeave, Nebius and IREN had each fallen more than 30% in October, CNBC reported, according to TechCrunch.

What if Anthropic stops paying?

As reported, the guarantee backs Nscale, not Anthropic. But Anthropic's contracts are the money meant to pay for the building, and they make up more than 40% of Nscale's $103 billion in contracted future revenue, the Financial Times reported. If Anthropic walked away or stopped paying and Nscale then missed its construction payments, Nvidia would pay the lenders, take temporary control of the building and try to sell it or rent it to someone else, according to The Information. What Nvidia would end up with is a large data center with power hookups, worth whatever a buyer or new tenant would pay. Whether Nvidia would also get Nscale shares, as in the Texas deal, has not been disclosed.

Anthropic's own finances are under scrutiny. It filed to go public this week, and the investment firm Blackstone has warned investors that Anthropic may get a below-investment-grade, or junk, credit rating, The Information reported, according to TechCrunch. That would make it costlier for Anthropic to borrow.

Source: TechCrunch, Oct. 30, 2026, Reuters via StreetInsider, Oct. 29, The Next Web, Tiger Brokers summary of The Information, Nscale S-1 filing, Sept. 18, Nvidia quarterly report, Nvidia CFO commentary, Aug. 26 and Anthropic, Nov. 18, 2025.