Anthropic’s data-center buildout and looming IPO spark a rare request to its biggest cloud rival

Anthropic, the fast-growing artificial intelligence startup backed by major tech and finance firms, is reportedly approaching its initial public offering with a practical problem: how to secure large-scale power-hungry data-center capacity without absorbing all of the payment risk itself.

According to a market report carried by Yahoo Finance, Anthropic has signed leases for 1 gigawatt of US data-center capacity. The figure is significant because it roughly translates into major electricity and infrastructure commitments for the period when Anthropic’s models and services will be run at scale.

The same report says Anthropic is asking Google, its top rival in cloud-hosted AI workloads, to provide guarantees covering Anthropic’s payments under those leases before any IPO. The request, if accurate, would mark an unusual leverage move between a major customer-adjacent partner and a competitor that is also pursuing its own AI supply chain and cloud strategy.

The report also describes Anthropic’s valuation at about $965 billion. If that figure is close to current market expectations, it would place the company among the largest private firms in the world, but the company still appears to be navigating the mechanics of infrastructure financing as it prepares to go public.

Google and Alphabet do not appear to have publicly commented on the specific lease guarantees in the information referenced by the report. Alphabet generally covers its AI and cloud strategy through product, policy, and leadership updates, but those materials do not, at least in the pages consulted here, confirm the alleged payment-guarantee arrangement.

In the wider sector context, data-center capacity has become a constraint for the AI industry. Model training and inference at scale depend on large, reliable power and cooling systems, and leasing arrangements often come with strict terms and financial protections for landlords and construction operators. For startups and private companies, the ability to secure capacity while managing cash needs can become as decisive as model performance.

What remains unclear is the structure and enforceability of any alleged Google guarantees, including the scope (for example, whether they cover entire lease payment schedules or only certain milestones), the timing relative to an IPO, and whether Anthropic would provide collateral or other assurances in return. The report also does not indicate whether the guarantee request is already agreed to, under negotiation, or contingent on regulatory and market conditions.

For investors and industry watchers, the next telltale sign will be whether Anthropic discloses data-center commitments, major leasing obligations, or related-party arrangements in any formal filing ahead of an IPO, and whether Alphabet discloses customer or competitive partnerships tied to those commitments.