Nvidia Lands $35 Billion Cloud Compute Deal Amid Circular Financing Questions
Nvidia has inked a massive $35 billion cloud compute deal with Anthropic, a move that some see as an example of circular financing. According to a report, Nvidia will supply the chips, back the cloud tenant, and hold the lease on the data center for the deal.
The agreement is part of a larger trend in which companies like Nvidia are investing heavily in AI and data centers, often with complex financial arrangements that blur the lines between supplier, investor, and lessee. In this case, Nvidia had already signed an agreement with Hut 8 to secure capacity for the deal.
Nvidia's CFO Colette Kress acknowledged on the company's Q2 earnings call that some would view the arrangement as circular financing, but defended it by saying that the NVIDIA Compute platform is fungible and durable. The company has invested nearly $50 billion in AI labs, including Frontier AI Labs, and expects AI lab demand to represent a quarter of its business next year.
The deal comes as Nvidia's stock price continues to rise, with shares up 5.9% over the past week and 18.52% year-to-date through August 31, 2026. However, some analysts have raised concerns about the company's balance sheet commitments and the potential risks of circular financing.