Anthropic and Nscale reportedly discuss a second $45 billion compute deal

Anthropic and the AI infrastructure provider Nscale are in talks for a second $45 billion compute deal, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. The two companies signed a compute agreement of the same size a little over a month ago, and this would effectively double their commitment to each other if it goes through.

Bloomberg’s sources cautioned that talks are still underway and that the terms could change before anything is finalized. TechCrunch, which first reported on the talks, said it had reached out to both Anthropic and Nscale for comment and had not yet heard back.

If completed, the new deal would be the latest in a long run of massive compute agreements Anthropic has signed over the past year, as the AI company races to lock up the computing power, meaning data center and chip capacity, it needs to train and run its models. Nscale builds and operates that kind of infrastructure for AI companies.

Investors are wary, but the deals keep coming

The scale of money flowing into AI compute agreements has unsettled a segment of investors, who worry that AI companies are committing far more cash than their current revenue can support. Anthropic has kept signing these deals anyway, operating on the belief that the spending will pay off as demand for its models grows.

The talks also land as both companies work toward public markets. Anthropic is still expected to complete an initial public offering this year. Nscale is pursuing its own IPO, but Bloomberg reported this week that the company is running into investor pushback over its proposed valuation of $30 billion, a figure that sits awkwardly next to the size of the compute deals Nscale is striking with a single customer.

Neither company has confirmed the new deal is happening, and the figures and structure could look different by the time anything is announced. What happens next will depend on whether Anthropic and Nscale finalize terms, and on whether Nscale’s IPO pricing holds up once investors weigh a $30 billion valuation against the size of the commitments the company is taking on. Confirmation from either side, or an updated figure if the deal’s scope shifts during negotiation, is the next concrete marker to watch for.