Nvidia weighs backstop for Nscale's West Virginia AI site

The proposed guarantee fits a pattern: Nvidia has already extended roughly $170 billion in investments and credit support to neoclouds and large customers, including $1 billion in convertible financing committed to Nscale in September. What is new here is the construction angle — earlier support mostly covered leases and chip purchases, not building costs.

The backdrop is pressure on neoclouds, which rent out AI computing power without a cash-rich core business behind them. Shares of CoreWeave, Nebius, and IREN had each fallen more than 30% in October as of last week, CNBC reported. Nscale has also hit snags: runoff from its West Virginia construction site has flooded nearby homes more than once, and Microsoft pulled out of a planned Nscale site in England after grid power for it was pushed into the 2030s.

Anthropic's own finances add a layer. It filed to go public this week, but Blackstone has warned investors that Anthropic may receive a below-investment-grade credit rating after its IPO, which would raise borrowing costs and could push it to keep relying on stronger partners to back its debt. One investor told The Information that Anthropic's involvement likely explains Nvidia's interest in keeping Nscale's project on track.