Google plans to support Anthropic with a $5 billion data center project

Odaily Planet Daily News: Google is preparing to support a large data center project in Texas. The project is operated by Nexus Data Centers and leased to Anthropic. According to a report by the Financial Times citing people familiar with the matter, the project’s initial phase could exceed $5 billion. Google is expected to provide construction loans, while a banking consortium is also seeking to arrange financing ahead of mid-year.

Reports say Anthropic has recently signed the lease for the 2,800-acre campus, which is part of its broader infrastructure partnership with Google. Construction has already begun on the project, and early debt financing is being provided by the publicly listed closed-end investment company Eagle Point. The site is expected to deliver around 500 megawatts of capacity by the end of 2026, with the potential to expand to 7.7 gigawatts in the future.

In addition, on Thursday, a federal judge in San Francisco, Rita Lin, issued a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking the Pentagon from designating Anthropic as a national security risk and from ordering the government to stop using its AI tools. The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by Anthropic. The judge said the government’s actions were “arbitrary,” and warned that a U.S. company should not be labeled a threat without clear legal grounds. According to reports, Anthropic previously refused to allow its models to be used for lethal autonomous weapons or large-scale surveillance, which has led to strained relations with the government.