Google is poised to underpin a proposed $15bn financing deal for a vast Anthropic-linked data centre complex in Texas, a move that would deepen its role in the fast‐growing AI infrastructure race and provide a key benchmark for power‐hungry US computing projects.
A banking syndicate led by Morgan Stanley is in talks to arrange funding for Nexus Data Centers’ planned campus in Hubbard, Texas, according to a Wall Street Journal report cited by Reuters. The package under discussion is centred on a $14bn bridge loan supported by a revolving credit facility, though the report did not specify the size of that credit line or name the other potential lenders.
Under the proposal, Google would guarantee billions of dollars of lease and electricity payments tied to Anthropic’s use of the site, should the AI company fail to meet its obligations. Those assurances would cover four data centre leases agreed by Anthropic, along with related contracts to buy power from a plant built on the same campus.
The guarantees would be capped at the minimum level banks require to complete the financing, the report said. In return, Google is expected to secure an equity stake of roughly 20% in the combined data centre and power project, giving it a direct financial interest in the complex alongside its existing AI partnership with Anthropic.
No party involved – neither Nexus nor any of the banks – has yet confirmed that a final agreement has been reached.
Power-hungry project built around its own plant
Nexus intends to develop a natural‐gas‐fired power station alongside the server campus, with capacity to generate around 1.6GW of electricity. Having an on‐site source of power would allow the project to access the vast energy supplies needed for AI systems without relying solely on incremental capacity from the Texas grid.
Securing sufficient electricity has become one of the main bottlenecks for new US data centre developments. AI operations demand large, steady power flows, while new transmission lines, generation projects and grid interconnections can take years to plan, approve and build.
The financing structure mirrors a broader trend in AI infrastructure, in which large technology groups with stronger balance sheets support the contractual commitments of smaller, privately held AI developers. Google’s proposed backing is designed to strengthen the project’s credit quality, enabling Nexus to borrow on better terms than Anthropic would likely obtain on its own.
At the Hubbard facility, Anthropic plans to deploy tensor processing units (TPUs) co‐designed by Google and Broadcom. According to the Wall Street Journal, those chips would be funded separately via a vendor agreement between Anthropic and Broadcom, sitting alongside the data centre and power‐plant financing.
Google’s potential role would therefore span multiple layers of the scheme: providing the TPU technology, guaranteeing key financial obligations and taking an equity position. The set‐up would widen Google’s influence over Anthropic’s infrastructure, even as the AI firm also sources processors from rival manufacturers.
Bitcoin miners pivot to AI infrastructure
Nexus is seeking capital and AI tenants at a time when several US Bitcoin mining companies are rapidly repurposing their power‐rich sites for high‐performance computing, amid a flurry of multi‐billion‐dollar deals.
On 6 July, TeraWulf agreed a 20‐year lease with Anthropic for its Justified Data campus in Hawesville, Kentucky. The contract covers around 401MW of critical IT load and is expected to generate about $19bn in revenue over its initial term.
CleanSpark then unveiled a $6.6bn, 20‐year lease for its Sandersville campus in Georgia, spanning 175MW. The value could climb to $11.6bn if the unnamed technology client activates its options to extend.
On 20 July, Hut 8 signed a second 352MW lease at its Beacon Point site in Texas. That $9.8bn agreement lifted the campus’s total base‐term lease value to $19.6bn, with renewal options that could push the overall figure to $50.2bn.
The same day, IREN announced $2.8bn worth of multi‐year AI cloud contracts and raised its year‐end annualised AI cloud revenue target to more than $4bn, noting that about 85% of that target is already under contract.
Core Scientific subsequently struck a deal to give AMD access to up to 2.5GW of data centre capacity. The first phase would deliver 500MW of AI‐ready infrastructure in 2027, although the companies did not disclose the overall contract value.
These firms originally assembled long‐term power agreements and industrial land to support Bitcoin mining, before surging AI demand sharply increased the value of such assets. Their pre‐existing grid connections can shorten build timelines, although AI campuses require more advanced cooling, networking and backup systems than traditional mining operations.
Market reaction and next steps
Shares in several US‐listed miners with exposure to AI infrastructure jumped on 30 July, though the rally cannot be solely pinned on the Nexus report.
IREN closed up about 30.7% at $38.26, Hut 8 climbed 22.7% to $108.27, CleanSpark gained 21.1%, Core Scientific rose 20.4% and TeraWulf advanced 18.1%. Those moves built on earlier gains following July’s AI announcements, with Hut 8 up as much as 17% after revealing its second Beacon Point lease, and IREN rising as much as 19% after updating investors on its cloud contracts.
Alphabet’s share price moved lower the same day, slipping around 0.9% to $333.66. The decline came as investors continued to weigh the mounting cost of Google’s AI infrastructure build‐out, rather than as a clear verdict on the still‐unfinalised Nexus financing.
The immediate focus for markets is whether Morgan Stanley and its fellow banks finalise the $15bn package and reveal key details such as the loan’s maturity, borrowing costs and the exact structure of Google’s guarantees.
Confirmation of Google’s anticipated 20% equity interest would also shed light on the scale of its direct exposure to Anthropic’s infrastructure commitments. Until a deal is signed, the loan terms, guarantees and shareholding arrangements remain provisional and based on accounts from people familiar with the negotiations.
For US‐listed miners, completion of the Nexus transaction would offer another valuation marker for large, power‐anchored AI campuses. It would also underscore the arrival of a conventional data centre specialist as a serious competitor for the same AI clients, lenders, chips and electricity supplies that have powered their move beyond Bitcoin.
