Banks to Offload $15B Debt for Google-Backed Anthropic Data Center as AI Build-Out Demands Surge

Banks to offload $15bn of debt for Anthropic data centre backed by Google

Banks are planning to offload $15bn of debt tied to a Google-backed data centre in Texas that has been leased to Anthropic, as Wall Street lenders grow wary of holding AI infrastructure debt on their balance sheets. A consortium of banks led by Morgan Stanley is planning to tap the bond market to refinance the debt they committed to the 2,000-acre data centre campus under construction in Hubbard, Texas, as soon as the loans are drawn, according to people familiar with the matter. The bond market has become an increasingly popular avenue for colossal AI initiatives to raise long-term capital since the market's depth means that projects can be financed more swiftly and at a lower cost than through bank loans. For banks, jettisoning the debt also helps reduce their overall AI risk exposure and frees up capacity for more lending. Meanwhile, the bank-focused market for infrastructure financing, which used to fund projects such as gas pipelines and airports, has been overwhelmed by the huge capital needs from AI build-outs. Big Wall Street banks have spent months seeking buyers for more than $50bn of construction debt for several data centre projects leased to Oracle earlier this year, and some lenders have sought to manage their exposure through risk-transfer deals. The $15bn debt package was expected to be split into multiple bond sales, as the bank loan has a so-called delay-draw feature that allows Nexus Data Centers -- the project developer -- to withdraw the debt over a period of time after hitting certain construction milestones, the people said. Part of the debt could also be refinanced in the leveraged loan market. The bond is expected to carry a speculative-grade rating even with Google's backstop, which is only effective after the data centre is fully built. This meant investors would have to shoulder risks including construction delays and cost overruns, the people added. The data centre will be filled with Google's custom TPU chips, which will be financed separately. The new Texas campus will be powered by its own natural gas power plant to avoid delays and surging costs. The large number of data centre projects set to be built in the Lone Star State has led to rising concerns around strained power and water supplies as well as rising utility prices. Merging data centre and power assets, however, can lead to complex financing since lenders need to underwrite two different kinds of risks simultaneously. Project Walleye, a similar Meta-led data centre with behind-the-metre power, had to offer investors additional yield to compensate for the additional risks. Google's financial support for the project was first reported by the FT in March. The Wall Street Journal last week reported on some aspects of the financing. Nexus and Morgan Stanley declined to comment. Anthropic and Google did not respond to requests for comment.

Banks in talks to lend $15 billion for Anthropic data center backed by Google, WSJ reports

July 30 (Reuters) - Data-center developer Nexus Data Centers is in advanced talks to raise $15 billion for a Texas campus tied to Anthropic, with Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab Google offering financial guarantees and supplying chips, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. Big Tech has been pouring billions of dollars into AI data centers and computing power as demand continues to outstrip supply. Here are some details: Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Pooja Desai Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Morgan Stanley leading $15B loan for Anthropic Texas data center

Google is backstopping the deal with its investment-grade credit rating, and is expected to receive an equity stake of about 20% in the project Nexus Data Centers is in advanced talks to secure $15 billion in financing to build an artificial intelligence data center campus in Hubbard, Texas, for Anthropic, with Morgan Stanley $MS leading the bank group on the deal, CNBC confirmed on Thursday. Alphabet $GOOGL's Google agreed to backstop Anthropic's obligations using its investment-grade credit rating, according to CNBC. Those guarantees extend to four Anthropic data-center leases and the associated power-purchase agreements tied to an on-site natural-gas plant with 1.6 gigawatts of generating capacity, according to Reuters. Google's backing was limited to the minimum level required by lenders to complete the financing. The deal is structured as a $14 billion bridge loan paired with a revolving credit facility, according to Reuters. In exchange for its support, Google is expected to receive an equity stake of about 20% in the data-center and power project. For the Hubbard campus, Anthropic intends to deploy tensor processing units -- co-developed by Google and Broadcom $AVGO -- with the chip costs covered under a dedicated vendor-financing arrangement that Anthropic has reached with Broadcom. Anthropic has pursued a range of infrastructure partnerships this year. Those deals include an arrangement with Advanced Micro Devices earlier this month, an agreement with Elon Musk's SpaceX in May, and a partnership with Google and Broadcom in April. Google's involvement with Anthropic predates this deal. In April, Google agreed to invest up to $40 billion in the AI startup, building on earlier investments that included $300 million for a roughly 10% stake in 2023 and an additional $2 billion shortly after. Google has also been expanding its broader data center infrastructure, including a dark fiber agreement with Verizon $VZ worth more than $1 billion. Anthropic and Nexus Data Centers declined to comment. Google and Morgan Stanley did not respond to requests for comment.

Banks in talks to lend $15 billion for Anthropic data center backed by Google: WSJ

Big Tech has been pouring ⁠billions of ⁠dollars into AI data centers and computing power as demand continues to outstrip supply. Data-center developer Nexus Data Centers is in advanced talks to raise $15 billion for a Texas campus tied to Anthropic, with Alphabet's Google offering financial guarantees and supplying chips, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. Big Tech has been pouring ⁠billions of ⁠dollars into AI data centers and computing power as demand continues to outstrip supply. Here are some details: A bank group led by Morgan Stanley is discussing financing for the project in Hubbard, Texas, which includes a natural-gas-fired power plant capable of producing 1.6 gigawatts of electricity, the report said. ⁠Google has agreed to guarantee billions of dollars of Anthropic's lease and power-payment commitments if the startup defaults, ⁠according to WSJ. The tech giant's backing was limited to the minimum level required by lenders to complete the financing. The guarantees cover four data-center leases signed by Anthropic and related power-purchase agreements for electricity from an on-site plant, the Journal said. The financing package includes a $14 billion bridge loan and a revolving credit facility, the newspaper reported. In return for its support, Google is expected to receive an equity stake of about 20% in ⁠the data-center and power project. Anthropic plans to equip the site with tensor processing units, chips co-designed by Google and Broadcom, according to the report. Those chips would be funded through a separate vendor-financing agreement between Anthropic and Broadcom. Anthropic declined to comment when contacted by Reuters, while Google and Morgan Stanley did not immediately respond.

Morgan Stanley leads $15B bet on Anthropic's Texas campus

Nexus Data Centers is closing in on $15 billion in financing to build an AI campus in Hubbard, Texas, which Anthropic will lease, with Morgan Stanley leading the bank group behind the deal, according to CNBC. The loan is going to Nexus, a data center developer few investors had heard of a year ago, and the reason banks are comfortable lending that much money traces back to a company that isn't building anything on the site at all: Google. The debt sits with a developer, not with the AI lab The financing package includes a $14 billion bridge loan and a revolving credit facility, structured for Nexus Data Centers rather than for Anthropic directly, according to Bloomberg. That distinction matters more than the headline number. Anthropic's own balance sheet, whatever its strength, isn't what lenders are underwriting here. Instead, Google agreed to backstop Anthropic's obligations using its investment-grade credit rating, CNBC reported. The guarantees cover four Anthropic data center leases and the power purchase agreements tied to an on-site natural gas plant with 1.6 gigawatts of capacity. Google's exposure was limited to the minimum amount lenders required to close the deal, the same report said. A guarantee is cheaper than a check Google didn't need to write Nexus a check to make this project happen. It needed to lend its credit rating, and in exchange it is expected to receive roughly 20% equity ownership in the data center and power project, according to CNBC. That's a capital-efficient way to buy into AI infrastructure without tying up $15 billion in cash. It also isn't Google's first exposure to Anthropic's balance sheet. In April, Google agreed to invest up to $40 billion in Anthropic, starting with $10 billion in cash at a $350 billion valuation, according to CNBC. Anthropic's valuation has since climbed to $965 billion in a Series H round in May, Anthropic said. Its run-rate revenue crossed $30 billion this year, up from roughly $9 billion at the end of 2025, Anthropic disclosed when it expanded its Google and Broadcom compute partnership. Broadcom is involved on the hardware side too. Anthropic plans to deploy tensor processing units co-designed by Google and Broadcom at the Hubbard site, with a separate vendor financing agreement covering the chip costs, CNBC reported. Bloomberg / Getty Images Google now plays four roles in this relationship Google competes with Anthropic through Gemini. It also supplies Anthropic's cloud and chip capacity, holds an equity stake as an investor, and now guarantees its landlord's debt. Few companies carry that much simultaneous exposure to a single rival. Alphabet (GOOGL) shares slipped about 0.7% Thursday afternoon as the report circulated, reflecting immediate investor anxiety over Big Tech taking on contingent liability risk for a private AI lab's real estate debt. The Nvidia-OpenAI playbook looks familiar This structure isn't unique to Google and Anthropic. Nvidia is in talks to provide up to $250 billion in financing guarantees for a 10-gigawatt OpenAI data center campus in Ohio, CNBC confirmed in July. Both arrangements exist for the same reason. Neither Anthropic nor OpenAI can borrow tens of billions of dollars on its own credit, so the chip or cloud partner steps in as the guarantor lenders actually trust. The scale is different. Nvidia's proposed backstop is more than fifteen times the size of Google's. But the mechanism is identical, and it's becoming the standard way AI labs finance physical infrastructure without owning it outright. Big Tech's balance sheets are becoming AI's credit market The Hubbard campus lands at an awkward moment for that model. Five-year credit default swaps on Alphabet's own debt have widened this year as bond investors price in more risk from the AI buildout, Bloomberg reported in its Credit Weekly note. Guaranteeing a third party's leases adds another contingent liability onto a balance sheet the market is already watching more closely. That works as long as demand for AI compute keeps outpacing supply. If it doesn't, the guarantees that make deals like this bankable today become the channel that transmits AI's financial risk directly onto the world's largest companies. Investors tracking Alphabet's earnings should start reading the footnotes on contingent obligations as closely as they read the revenue line. The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc. This story was originally published August 1, 2026 at 8:07 PM.