Anthropic signs $35B cloud deal backed by Nvidia

Anthropic has finalized a $35 billion cloud-computing agreement with Lambda, a cloud service provider backed by Nvidia ↗ 2.78%, according to an exclusive report by The Wall Street Journal News Corp ↘ 0.03% published Monday. The deal underscores Nvidia's expanding role as an intermediary in the AI infrastructure buildout, connecting cash-hungry AI companies with the computing power they need.wsj

A Complex Three-Way Arrangement

Under the terms of the agreement, Nvidia is directly leasing a data center currently under construction by Hut 8 ↗ 14.58%, a bitcoin mining and data center development company, in Nueces County, Texas. Nvidia signed a separate contract with Hut 8 several weeks ago to secure computing capacity at the facility, according to people familiar with the matter.news.futunn+1

The arrangement allows Lambda to sign the lucrative contract with Anthropic without having to procure data center space independently. Lambda will use the Hut 8 facility and install chips purchased from Nvidia, which is also an investor in Lambda. It remains unclear how much Lambda will pay Nvidia for use of the data center space.news.futunn

Nvidia's Growing Middleman Role

The layered deal structure highlights Nvidia's deepening involvement in the AI supply chain beyond chip manufacturing. By holding the data center lease and facilitating access for non-investment-grade firms like Anthropic, Nvidia is positioning itself as a critical enabler across multiple segments of the AI computing stack.wsj+1

Anthropic has been racing to secure cloud capacity agreements after encountering computing power supply bottlenecks earlier this year. The $35 billion deal with Lambda represents one of the largest cloud-computing contracts in the AI industry, reflecting the enormous infrastructure demands of training and deploying frontier AI models.news.futunn

A Boost for Emerging Cloud Providers

The agreement also marks a major win for Lambda, an emerging cloud provider that has carved out a niche serving AI workloads. With Nvidia's backing and infrastructure support, Lambda can compete for major contracts that would otherwise flow to hyperscale cloud providers like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud. Reuters could not immediately verify the report independently.devdiscourse