Anthropic may be preparing to make another enormous infrastructure bet. The Claude developer is reportedly in talks with Nscale for a second computing agreement worth roughly $45 billion, potentially adding another facility at the Monarch data center campus in West Virginia. The prospective deal follows an agreement announced only weeks ago, underscoring how aggressively Anthropic is expanding the hardware base behind its AI services.
Details remain in flux, but the proposed building would reportedly provide approximately 460 megawatts of capacity and use Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin systems. The facility would be the second Monarch site dedicated to Anthropic under negotiations now being discussed, while Anthropic may also hold a right of first refusal on a planned third building. Reuters described the talks as ongoing, meaning the value, schedule, and final structure could still change. Reuters also identified the proposed project as a second major Nscale agreement for Anthropic.
The first Nscale arrangement reportedly covers six years of cloud capacity at roughly the same scale: about 460 megawatts and approximately $45 billion in commitments. That infrastructure is expected to begin coming online in late 2027, using Nvidia’s Vera Rubin architecture. If the second contract reaches completion on similar terms, Anthropic’s potential commitments to Nscale could approach $90 billion before the first systems are fully operational.
Monarch is not a conventional single-building data center. Nscale says the West Virginia campus spans as much as 2,250 acres and includes a state-certified AI microgrid, with a power runway that can scale beyond eight gigawatts. The company’s official infrastructure plan calls for a first phase capable of hosting 1.35 gigawatts of AI computing capacity, with delivery targeted for early 2028. Nscale’s own announcement also described the site as a flagship deployment location for Nvidia Vera Rubin NVL72 systems.
The negotiations fit a broader pattern in Anthropic’s strategy: securing compute years ahead of demand rather than relying on short-term cloud availability. The company has also expanded its relationship with Amazon, announcing plans for up to five gigawatts of additional capacity for training and deploying Claude, alongside more than $100 billion in planned spending on AWS technologies over the next decade. Anthropic’s announcement framed that arrangement as a long-term infrastructure commitment supporting both model development and everyday service deployment.
For Anthropic, another Monarch contract would provide a large, dedicated supply of cutting-edge accelerators as competition for AI hardware intensifies. For Nscale, it would create a major anchor customer while the company develops a campus sized for multiple gigawatts of demand. Neither side has publicly finalized the proposed second agreement, so the next meaningful milestone is likely a signed contract or regulatory disclosure rather than an immediate launch. Until then, the headline number is best treated as a potential commitment—not money already spent or capacity already online.
