Google nears $5B+ deal to finance Anthropic's 500MW data center

The consortium of banks is vying to finance the first phase of this project by mid-year. However, Google's parent company Alphabet's backing should help the project secure financing at a lower cost, thanks to the tech giant's strong credit rating. This could make a huge difference in the overall financial strategy for this massive data center initiative.

The 2,800-acre data center campus is part of Google's partnership with Anthropic. The lease for this ambitious project was signed earlier this month and construction has already begun at the Texas site. It has received early-stage debt from asset manager Eagle Point. The facility is expected to deliver around 500 megawatts of capacity by early 2026, with plans to expand it to about 7.7 gigawatts in the future.

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The Texas site's strategic location near major gas pipelines operated by Enterprise, Energy Transfer, and Atmos could be a game-changer. It would allow Nexus to power the facility with its own gas turbines and avoid surge pricing from one energy source. This is part of a larger trend among data center developers who are looking to reduce their dependence on grid connections due to time-consuming and expensive processes.