Anthropic has signed a $10 billion cloud computing agreement with startup Volta, according to a report from Bloomberg. The Anthropic Volta deal covers six years of dedicated compute capacity for training and running Claude, Anthropic’s family of AI models.
The agreement adds to a string of infrastructure deals Anthropic has struck in recent months. The company is competing with rivals including OpenAI and Google for access to AI computing power. It has also announced new compute arrangements with SpaceX and Amazon.
Amazon and Google are both investors in Anthropic, and each already supplies it with cloud infrastructure through AWS and Google Cloud. A separate deal with a newer entrant like Volta suggests Anthropic wants compute spread across more providers, rather than concentrated with its existing backers.
What the Anthropic Volta deal includes
Volta was founded earlier this year. It will build the infrastructure behind the deal with help from partner Bitdeer, a crypto-mining company that has expanded into AI data center construction. The facility will sit in Norway and offer 133 megawatts of capacity once complete.
The data center will run on Nvidia‘s Vera Rubin systems, the chipmaker’s newest AI chip architecture and the successor to its current Blackwell platform. Volta also belongs to Nvidia’s Cloud Partner program. That group of AI cloud providers builds data centers around Nvidia GPUs and sells the capacity to AI labs.
Bitdeer began as a crypto-mining operation. It has since shifted part of its business toward AI and high-performance computing infrastructure. Several mining companies have made a similar pivot as demand for AI data centers has outpaced demand for mining rigs. Pairing with an established data center builder gives Volta a faster route to large-scale facilities than building that expertise alone.
Volta had kept its AI lab customer under wraps
Volta had previously confirmed it was working with an AI lab on a large compute deal, without naming the company involved. Bloomberg’s report, citing people familiar with the matter, first identified Anthropic as the customer. TechCrunch reached out to Anthropic for comment.
The deal fits a broader pattern. Anthropic has moved to lock down compute capacity through multiple providers, rather than relying on a single cloud partner. OpenAI and other AI labs have taken a similar approach as they race to secure chips and data center capacity amid continued demand for AI infrastructure.
Six-year contracts of this size are still rare outside a handful of AI labs. They require the buyer to commit to steady, long-term spending in exchange for guaranteed access to chips that remain in short supply across the industry.
- Deal value: $10 billion over six years
- Infrastructure partners: Volta and Bitdeer
- Location: Norway
- Capacity: 133 megawatts
- Chip platform: Nvidia Vera Rubin