Nvidia weighs playing the cosigner for Nscale’s AI data center in West Virginia

Nvidia is in talks to provide a residual value guarantee for billions in debt financing for AI cloud provider Nscale's planned Anthropic data center in West Virginia, according to reports from The Information and Bloomberg. Under this arrangement, Nvidia would cover construction payments if Nscale defaulted, temporarily take over the facility, and help find a buyer and new tenant. This would mark a shift from Nvidia's earlier support for cloud providers, which mainly covered leases and chip purchases. The deal is critical for Nscale, which is seeking an IPO at a valuation up to $35 billion despite struggling to deploy its planned AI chips. Anthropic has signed a $44.6 billion contract for the first 460-megawatt building, which will use Nvidia's next-generation Vera Rubin chips, with discussions for a second $45 billion building underway. Nvidia has already committed $1 billion in convertible financing to Nscale and has extended roughly $170 billion in investments and credit support to neoclouds and large customers. The guarantee would deepen Nvidia's ties to Nscale while securing a major customer for its chips, as Anthropic has spread its infrastructure spending across multiple chipmakers. The talks come as Anthropic faces questions about financing its expansion and potential below-investment-grade credit rating after its IPO.

(Source：TechCrunch)