Anthropic is accelerating infrastructure expenditures ahead of its anticipated IPO, with reports indicating a planned $45 billion computing investment push.
Artificial intelligence firm Anthropic PBC has agreed to spend $45 billion over six years to rent cloud computing capacity from London-based startup Nscale at its new Monarch campus in West Virginia, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The initial phase covers approximately 460 megawatts of power, equivalent to the energy needed to supply around 345,000 U.S. homes, and will occupy the first of three planned buildings at the facility.
To meet Anthropic’s operational requirements, Nscale will equip the site with Nvidia Corp.’s next-generation Vera Rubin chips, which are scheduled to come online late next year. Full development of the 1.35-gigawatt Monarch campus and its dedicated power plant is projected to cost $71 billion, with $47 billion allocated specifically for AI chips. Additional server infrastructure across the site is expected to become fully operational by 2028.
The transaction marks the latest initiative by the maker of the Claude AI assistant to lock in massive computing resources ahead of an anticipated initial public offering. Anthropic, which reached a valuation of $965 billion in May, has recently finalized several major infrastructure agreements, including a $50 billion deal with Fluidstack, a $10 billion arrangement with Volta Infra Holdings Ltd., and another $45 billion commitment with SpaceX.
According to planning documents cited by Bloomberg, construction of the campus will directly employ 4,375 workers. Once fully operational, the site is projected to support 645 direct jobs and approximately 3,600 indirect positions across West Virginia.
The West Virginia site was originally intended for Microsoft Corp., which signed a letter of intent in March before opting not to proceed earlier this summer. Microsoft’s exit cleared the way for Anthropic’s lease. Securing an anchor tenant for the project arrives as Nscale prepares for an IPO as early as next month. The European neocloud provider, whose board includes former Meta executives Sheryl Sandberg and Nick Clegg, has reported around $51 billion in contracted revenue to prospective investors.
Representatives for both Anthropic and Microsoft declined to comment on the arrangement. Meanwhile, retail sentiment on Stocktwits towards Anthropic remains ‘bullish’, accompanied by ‘high’ message volumes.