Google provides credit support for TeraWulf data center project, securing Anthropic's approximately $19 billion lease

Zhidongxi November 5 news: Last night, U.S. data center development and operator TeraWulf announced that it had signed a credit support agreement with Google, under which Google will provide credit support for the debt financing of TeraWulf's Justified data center project.

TeraWulf disclosed that it has signed an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) agreement with U.S. engineering and construction company Fluor. Fluor will be responsible for the construction of three data center buildings in the campus, which are expected to be delivered in phases from the end of 2027 to the second quarter of 2028.

The campus will be used by large-model unicorn Anthropic. On July 6 this year, TeraWulf announced that its subsidiary Raylan Data had signed a 20-year lease with Anthropic, agreeing to provide approximately 401 megawatts of IT load capacity. During the initial lease term, the lease is expected to generate approximately US$19 billion (approximately RMB 127.6 billion) in contract revenue.

TeraWulf was founded in February 2021 and listed on Nasdaq in December of the same year through a merger with IKONICS. The company initially operated a Bitcoin mining business and is now expanding its AI and high-performance computing infrastructure leasing business, mainly developing and operating data centers equipped with power supply, cooling, and other supporting facilities, and charging customers through long-term leases.

As of the U.S. stock market close in the early hours of today, TeraWulf's stock price was US$11.70 per share (approximately RMB 78.57 per share), down 6.62% for the day, with a total market capitalization of approximately US$5.84 billion (approximately RMB 39.22 billion).

Its co-founder, chairman, and CEO Paul Prager and co-founder and CTO Nazar Khan both previously worked at U.S. energy infrastructure company Beowulf Energy.

Prager is the founder of Beowulf Energy, and Khan served as executive vice president at Beowulf Energy for nearly 20 years, responsible for acquisitions and project development. According to TeraWulf's 2021 annual report, its core management team, including the two, had previously worked together for more than 15 years.

To support expansion, in October 2025, TeraWulf subsidiary WULF Compute issued US$3.2 billion (approximately RMB 21.490 billion) in senior secured notes with a coupon rate of 7.75%, maturing in 2030, with proceeds used for construction of the Lake Mariner campus in New York State. In the same month, TeraWulf also issued US$1.025 billion (approximately RMB 6.883 billion) in zero-coupon convertible bonds maturing in 2032.

In April this year, TeraWulf also publicly offered 54.51 million shares of common stock at US$19 per share, raising a total of approximately US$1.036 billion (approximately RMB 6.955 billion). The company said the proceeds will be used for construction of the Hawesville data center, repayment of bridge loans, acquisition of new sites, and general corporate purposes.

According to TeraWulf's financial report, in the second quarter of this year, the company's revenue was approximately US$44.77 million (approximately RMB 301 million), down approximately 6.0% year over year, of which high-performance computing leasing revenue was approximately US$31.93 million (approximately RMB 214 million), accounting for approximately 71.3% of total revenue. The company's net loss for the quarter was approximately US$941 million (approximately RMB 6.318 billion), compared with a net loss of approximately US$18.37 million in the same period last year, with the loss expanding approximately 50.2 times year over year.

The Justified project requires upfront investment in construction before funds are recovered through rent. TeraWulf said the introduction of Google's credit support is intended to improve the project's financing conditions and secure competitive long-term debt funding.

Anthropic begins paying rent after each data hall is delivered and has two five-year renewal options. Based on the current delivery plan from the end of 2027 to the second quarter of 2028, the initial lease term could extend to 2047-2048; if both renewal options are fully exercised, it could extend to 2057-2058.

To ensure performance of the lease, on November 4, TeraWulf and its subsidiaries Raylan Data and Justified DataPower jointly signed three credit support agreements with Anthropic and Google, corresponding to the three data center buildings in the Justified campus. Google's performance support obligation for each building's lease takes effect after the last data hall in that building begins its lease term.

If Anthropic defaults on payment or experiences a bankruptcy event, Google may, after receiving the agreed notice, pay the due rent in accordance with the agreement and take over from Anthropic as tenant; under certain conditions, it may also pay the agreed termination fee. After paying the termination fee, Google has the right to acquire equity in Raylan.

Last year, Google had already provided credit support for other TeraWulf projects. On August 14, 2025, TeraWulf announced that it had signed two ten-year lease agreements with AI cloud platform Fluidstack, planning to provide more than 200 megawatts of IT load capacity at the Lake Mariner campus, with total initial contract revenue of approximately US$3.7 billion (approximately RMB 24.848 billion).

To support project financing, Google provided support for US$1.8 billion (approximately RMB 12.088 billion) of the lease obligations and received warrants to purchase approximately 41 million shares of TeraWulf common stock.

Conclusion: Computing power center construction requires upfront investment, and Google provides credit support for financing

Anthropic has signed a long-term lease, but TeraWulf still needs to raise funds first for construction and then collect rent after the data halls are delivered. The introduction of Google's credit support this time is intended to add a layer of performance assurance to future rental income and help the project secure long-term debt funding.

From the previous Fluidstack project to the current Anthropic project, Google has successively provided support for TeraWulf's customer leases, a move that may be aimed at securing orders for its own TPU computing power. For TeraWulf, obtaining construction loans requires not only customers willing to lease data halls for the long term but also lenders believing that the rent will be paid. Google assuming part of the default risk under the agreements is precisely the key to converting customer orders into a financing basis.

Source: TeraWulf