Anthropic, the creator of AI-model Claude, will lease powerful but costly computer chips at five data centers with help from Alphabet's (GOOG, GOOGL) Google, Bloomberg reported late Tuesday.
Google, which also operates its own Gemini AI-model, agreed to backstop Anthropic lease payments at each location, helping the AI-outfit obtain what amounts to a $35 billion loan.
While Google is using its balance sheet to help Anthropic and finance data centers, it's also a supplier of the chips that Anthropic will use at the data centers, the report said.
Thus, Google is selling more hardware to a customer whose products are seen by some as powering much of the AI-industry's future, but also helping to financing the sale of those chips.
According to the report, the new deal comes with collaboration from chip-designer Broadcom (AVGO), which also used its clout and credit-ratings to help clinch financing that will enable Google to deliver tensor processing units, or TPU chips, for Anthropic's use.
Google and Anthropic already have a working relationship; the two companies struck a long-term partnership for TPUs in 2025, and two months ago Google agreed to invest $10 billion in the non-profit startup.
In the new $35 billion microchip deal, custom-chip outfit Broadcom is designing the chips, Google developing them and Anthropic using them at the five US-based data centers.
Apollo Global Management (APO) and Blackstone (BX) are also involved in financing the chip arrangement, Bloomberg reported.
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