In a definitive move that underscores the insatiable demand for artificial intelligence computing power, energy infrastructure pioneer Hut 8 has finalized a landmark $7 billion agreement to construct a hyperscale data center for Anthropic. The massive facility will be developed at Hut 8’s River Bend campus in Louisiana, with high-performance computing operations managed by Fluidstack, marking one of the largest infrastructure deals in the history of the AI sector.The fifteen-year lease agreement represents a significant strategic evolution for Hut 8, a company traditionally recognized for its cryptocurrency mining operations. By leveraging its deep expertise in managing high-density energy infrastructure, Hut 8 is pivoting aggressively to meet the critical needs of the AI industry. The project will initially deliver 245 megawatts of IT capacity, but the agreement includes ambitious provisions to scale operations up to 2.3 gigawatts. If fully realized, this expansion would position the River Bend site as one of the single largest AI computing hubs in North America.
This complex alliance brings together three critical layers of the modern technology stack. Hut 8 will provide the essential energy and real estate foundation, while Fluidstack will oversee the cloud platform and high-performance clusters. These resources will be dedicated to Anthropic, the creator of the Claude AI model, to train its next generation of artificial intelligence systems. Adding a layer of financial security to the ambitious project, tech giant Google a major investor in Anthropic is providing a financial backstop for the lease, signaling the high strategic value placed on securing reliable compute capacity.
The selection of the Louisiana site highlights a growing industry reality where access to power has become the primary bottleneck for technological advancement. Asher Genoot, CEO of Hut 8, noted that scaling frontier AI infrastructure is fundamentally a power challenge. He explained that the partnership aligns power availability, data center design, and compute deployment into a single, integrated platform capable of delivering at a gigawatt scale, a necessity for the training of future AI models that require exponentially more energy than their predecessors.
For Anthropic, securing this infrastructure is vital for maintaining its competitive edge in the rapidly accelerating AI arms race. James Bradbury, Head of Compute at Anthropic, indicated that the partnership provides the necessary runway to significantly advance their models' capabilities. The first phase of the facility is scheduled to come online by early 2027, a timeline that aligns with the industry's roadmap for the deployment of increasingly sophisticated machine learning systems.
The deal also serves as a bellwether for the broader technology market, illustrating how former bitcoin mining facilities are becoming prized assets for the AI revolution. With the contract value potentially rising to nearly $18 billion if all expansion options are exercised, the collaboration creates a vertically integrated supply chain designed for speed and efficiency. By converting industrial power capacity into intelligence processing power, the alliance between Hut 8, Fluidstack, and Anthropic sets a new standard for how the physical infrastructure of the internet is built and financed.
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