Google has created a complex financial structure to supply AI startup Anthropic with its proprietary Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), while keeping the hardware risk off its balance sheet. The arrangement involves a special-purpose vehicle that buys the chips with outside investor money, with Broadcom acting as a guarantor and Anthropic leasing the hardware. Google is also securing data center power from crypto-mining companies to support the chip infrastructure. The deal is described as one of the largest infrastructure financing programs in history, with $200 billion in contracts tied to Anthropic's ability to grow its revenue. Source: thedecoder
The financing structure includes a special-purpose vehicle called Compute SPV, which purchased about one gigawatt of TPU hardware for $35 billion in June. This equates to roughly one million TPUs, according to the Financial Times. Broadcom provides a backstop covering about $30 billion of the purchase if Anthropic stops making lease payments. The model is now being used for additional deals, with an April agreement covering another 3.5 gigawatts of TPU hardware to Broadcom for Anthropic. Broadcom's financial filings list $128 billion in purchase commitments through 2028, with nearly all tied to Google TPUs. Source: thedecoder
Google is also working with crypto miners to secure the power and data centers needed to run the TPUs. TeraWulf is the first miner to receive a Google guarantee, covering a 360 megawatt data center in New York. Morgan Stanley packaged the guarantee into a $3.2 billion construction bond, while Google received an ownership stake in TeraWulf. The same model is now being applied to other miners, including Cipher Digital and Hut 8. Google has backed ten projects with a combined capacity of 2.4 gigawatts so far, according to FT sources. Source: thedecoder
