英伟达考虑为客户的数据中心贷款作担保：Anthropic首栋合同446亿美元
据 TechCrunch 援引 The Information 的报道并经 Bloomberg 佐证，芯片制造商英伟达（Nvidia）正在洽谈为超级智能（SI）云服务商 Nscale 计划在 West Virginia 建设的数据中心提供数十亿美元债务融资担保——等于由英伟达为自己客户的贷款联署背书。这座园区的主要租户是 Anthropic，仅第一栋建筑的合同就达 446 亿美元，金额写在 Nscale 的上市申报文件里。
拟议安排属于「剩余价值担保」：担保款项用于园区的电力与建设成本；如果 Nscale 不能按约支付建设款项，英伟达将介入、临时接管设施，并协助寻找买家与新租户。英伟达此前对云服务商的支持大多只涉及租赁与芯片采购，不涉及建设环节，这次若成行，介入程度明显加深。
Anthropic 与 Nscale 的合同覆盖园区第一栋 460 兆瓦建筑，预计使用英伟达下一代 Vera Rubin 芯片；双方还在洽谈第二栋建筑的另一笔约 450 亿美元交易。Nscale 正寻求以最高 350 亿美元估值上市，尽管外界对其交付宏大建设项目的能力存有疑虑。据 The Information 统计，英伟达已向 neocloud 云服务商与大客户提供约 1700 亿美元的投资与信用支持，其中包括今年 9 月承诺给 Nscale 的 10 亿美元可转债融资。
这一动向出现的背景是，投资者对超级智能（SI）基础设施的巨额支出越来越不安，质疑这些投入能否足够快地产生回报。替客户的建设贷款作担保，有助于让数据中心建设计划继续推进、为英伟达的芯片保住落点，但也让这家芯片商与客户的财务风险绑得更紧。
Nvidia Weighs Cosigning a Customer's Data Center Loans: Anthropic's First Building Deal Is Worth $44.6 Billion
Nvidia is in talks to guarantee billions of dollars in debt financing for AI cloud provider Nscale's planned Anthropic data center in West Virginia, TechCrunch reported, citing The Information and corroborated by Bloomberg. Anthropic has signed a $44.6 billion contract for the project's first building alone, according to Nscale's IPO filing. In essence, the chipmaker would be co-signing a customer's loans.
The proposed arrangement would help Nscale secure financing for the electricity and construction costs of its West Virginia campus. Under what is known as a residual value guarantee, Nvidia would step in if Nscale defaulted on construction payments, temporarily take over the facility, and help find a buyer and a new tenant. Nvidia's earlier support for cloud providers has mostly covered leases and chip purchases, not construction, so the guarantee would mark a deeper level of involvement.
Anthropic's contract with Nscale covers the first 460-megawatt building at the West Virginia campus, which is expected to use Nvidia's next-generation Vera Rubin chips. The companies are also discussing a second deal worth roughly $45 billion for another building. Nscale is seeking to go public at a valuation of up to $35 billion, despite growing concerns about its ability to deliver on ambitious data center projects. Nvidia has extended roughly $170 billion in investments and credit support to neoclouds and large customers, according to The Information, including $1 billion in convertible financing committed to Nscale in September.
The talks come as investors grow increasingly jittery about the scale of spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure and whether it can generate returns quickly enough. Guaranteeing a customer's construction loans would help keep data center buildout plans afloat and secure a home for Nvidia's chips, while tying the chipmaker more tightly to its customers' financial risk.
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：图：英伟达位于加州 Santa Clara 的总部大楼。Dllu，CC BY-SA 4.0，经维基共享资源。 / Nvidia's headquarters in Santa Clara, California. By Dllu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
