Google has agreed to backstop Anthropic’s 20-year, $19 billion lease for 401 megawatts of computing capacity at TeraWulf’s Kentucky campus, according to a TeraWulf SEC filing on Wednesday that CoinDesk reports. The agreements were signed on 4 November.
If Anthropic defaults or becomes insolvent, Google can take over the lease. Under certain conditions it can instead pay a termination fee and take a stake in Raylan Data, the TeraWulf subsidiary that runs the project. The stake equals the fee divided by total project cost, so a payment worth 30 percent of cost buys 30 percent.
For the first six years Google generally has to take over the lease rather than walk away, unless the TPU pods could use less than half the power reserved for the tenant. Its obligations end if Anthropic, or a parent or subsidiary, holds an investment-grade rating for at least three months.
That clause is a live question. TechCrunch reported on 30 October that Anthropic is expected to receive a high junk rating.
Google’s support for each of three leased sections starts once the final data hall in that section is delivered. Capacity is expected from late 2027, with deliveries through the second quarter of 2028. TeraWulf began as a bitcoin miner and has shifted towards AI infrastructure.
The termination fee, any payment Google receives for the backstop and the financing terms are not disclosed. Whether the arrangement lowers the project’s borrowing costs, or only moves the risk to Google, is left open.
