June 11 - AI firm Anthropic is planning to lease and manage its own data centers and is seeking financial backing from Alphabet's Google for the lease payments, The Information reported on Thursday.
Here are some details:
• Anthropic, the creator of the Claude Code AI assistant, has signed more than a dozen preliminary agreements to lease U.S. data centers with a combined capacity of more than 1 GW, The Information reported, citing sources with direct knowledge of the plans.
• The AI startup's executiveshave also discussed an arrangement under which backer Google, which co-designs some of the server chips Anthropic could use in the facilities, would provide a financial guarantee for its lease payments, the report said.
• In an emailed response, Google said it does not comment on rumors or speculation, while Anthropic did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.
• Strong demand for its Claude family of AI models has prompted Anthropic to sign several major deals to expand computing capacity, as it gears up for an IPO.
• Earlier this month, Anthropic said it had confidentially filed for a U.S. IPO, without disclosing the size or the terms of the offering.
• Alphabet planned to invest up to $40 billion in Anthropic, the AI startup said in April.
• Anthropic last raised funds in late May, securing $65 billion at a post-money valuation of $965 billion, putting it ahead of OpenAI.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Diti Pujara)
