Google Backstops, Anthropic Rents: $19B in Leases, Only Google-Approved TPUs

In short

• Anthropic is leasing from TeraWulf, for 20 years, about 401 MW of electrical power reserved for its machines, in three buildings in Hawesville, Kentucky. About $19 billion in contracted leases, according to the press release.
• On 04/11/2026, Google agreed to backstop some of Anthropic's obligations, starting when rent begins on the last data hall of each building. If Anthropic stops paying or becomes insolvent, Google can take over the lease or, in certain cases, pay a fee that entitles it to a stake in the landlord.
• In the published template agreement, Anthropic commits to using only Google-approved TPUs on site as compute accelerators.

The smoking gun

On November 4, 2026, TeraWulf, a Nasdaq-listed data center operator, filed an 8-K with the SEC, the US stock market watchdog. In July 2026, its subsidiary Raylan Data signed a 20-year lease with Anthropic: about 401 MW of "critical IT load," across three buildings named CB-1, CB-2 and CB-3.

Rent isn't running yet. It starts data hall by data hall, as each is delivered, from late 2027 to the second quarter of 2028 according to TeraWulf. Announced total: about $19 billion in lease commitments.

What's new is three guarantee agreements, one per building, signed by TeraWulf, its subsidiaries, Anthropic and Google LLC, a subsidiary of Alphabet. The press release ties them to debt that hasn't been raised yet: the expected financing for the project.

The guarantor, line by line

Picture this. You rent an apartment off-plan. The landlord borrows to build it, the landlord's bank wants a guarantee, and someone signs for you. TeraWulf has published only a template of these agreements, with blanks where the dates and amounts should be. Here's what it says.

When it kicks in. Late. Its options only apply once rent begins on the last data hall of each building. A default still ongoing on that date counts anyway.

What triggers it. A payment default by Anthropic on the lease, or insolvency: bankruptcy, liquidation, ceasing to operate. Raylan notifies Google, which has 30 days to verify.

What it can do. Two doors:

• take over the lease: Google pays the rent due and becomes the tenant;
• reject it: the lease is terminated, Google pays a termination fee, and can acquire a stake in Raylan equal to the fee divided by the total project cost.

On a simple payment default, Google can also defer its choice, paying the unpaid rent in the meantime. If it stays silent, the contract decides: rejection by default, and lease takeover during the first six years, unless the TPU clause applies.

The TPU clause. The 8-K says Google pays the fee only "under certain circumstances". The template spells one out. During the six years following the start of rent on the last data hall, Google cannot choose rejection. Unless the TPU pods installed in the building, when running, can consume less than 50% of the critical power reserved for the tenant in that building. And earlier on, a blunt line: for the entire term of the agreement, Anthropic and its affiliates use only Google-approved TPUs on site as compute accelerators.

When it goes away. The guarantee falls away if Anthropic gets an investment-grade credit rating and holds it for at least three months. A parent company or a subsidiary can also earn it, provided it then guarantees the lease. The exact threshold was left in brackets in the published template.

The bill

$19 billion for 401 MW: about $47 million in commitments per megawatt, on average, cumulative over the full life of those commitments. One megawatt, here, is $47 million. Not per year: in total.

On an annual basis, it gets slippery. The 8-K talks about a 20-year lease, the press release about $19 billion in commitments. Neither says that this amount covers the 20 years at constant rent. If it did: $950 million a year, about $2.6 million a day. That is an assumption for the calculation, not a figure from the filing.

The guarantor, for its part, has solid credit. Alphabet's senior unsecured debt is rated AA+ by S&P and Aa2 by Moody's, TeraWulf points out.

The rest of the story, financials and IPO, is in our breakdown of Anthropic's S-1.

What we don't know yet

• The debt. Amount, term, rate: nothing. One of the fee caps corresponds, says a note, to the maximum expected amount of that debt. It's left blank.
• The fee. It decreases over time, following a schedule in Schedule C-1. The page is empty in the published template; some schedules were omitted from the filing.
• The rent. No monthly or annual amount. And the amendments to the leases signed on November 4 aren't detailed.

Verdict: we know who pays if Anthropic stops paying. We don't know how much.

Key terms

• 8-K: the form a US-listed company files with the SEC to announce a significant event.
• MW of critical IT load: the electrical power, in megawatts, reserved for the tenant's computing machines.
• Termination fee: here, the sum Google pays the landlord when it lets the lease be terminated; it entitles Google to a stake in the landlord.
• TPU: chips designed by Google for machine learning workloads. The contract counts them in pods: racks of TPU compute, with their associated systems and networking racks.
• Investment grade: credit ratings of BBB− or above at S&P and Fitch, or Baa3 at Moody's. Below that, it's called speculative grade.

About the source

• Who: TeraWulf Inc., through its subsidiary Raylan Data LLC; parties to the agreement: Raylan, TeraWulf, Justified DataPower LLC, Anthropic, PBC and Google LLC.
• Date: 8-K dated 04/11/2026, event of 04/11/2026, recorded on EDGAR on 04/11/2026 at 13:16:25 UTC.
• Links: 8-K (SEC) · press release, Exhibit 99.1 · template agreement, Exhibit 10.1

Source passages

Documents retrieved on 05/11/2026 around 08:07 UTC from EDGAR (filing 0001628280-26-069810). Amounts in US dollars.

Show the 9 sources

Ref.	Quote (original language)	URL
S1↑1↑2↑3↑4↑5↑6+11	"Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported) : November 4, 2026" ; "in July 2026, the Company’s subsidiary Raylan Data LLC (“Raylan”) entered into a 20-year lease agreement with Anthropic, PBC (“Anthropic”), as tenant, to provide Anthropic with approximately 401 MW of critical IT load for high-performance computing (“HPC”) operations at the Company’s data center campus located in Hawesville, Kentucky" ; "Anthropic’s obligation to pay rent commences upon the delivery of each data hall at the applicable leased premises, which consist of CB-1, CB-2 and CB-3" ; "Delivery of the capacity under the Justified Leases is expected to occur in phases beginning in late 2027 and concluding in the second quarter of 2028." ; "on November 4, 2026, the Company entered into three Credit Support Agreements for CB-1, CB-2 and CB-3, respectively [...] with Raylan, Justified DataPower LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, Anthropic and Google LLC (“Google”), pursuant to which Google agreed to backstop [...] certain obligations of Anthropic under the Justified Leases" ; "will become effective as of the commencement date for the final data hall under the corresponding Justified Lease and will terminate upon the conditions described in the Google Credit Support Agreements, including Anthropic [...] achieving and maintaining certain investment grade credit ratings for a period of at least three months" ; "in the event of a payment default under a Justified Lease, or if Anthropic becomes subject to an insolvency event, following notice from Raylan, Google will have the option to (i) pay all rent currently due under the applicable Justified Lease and assume the Justified Lease as the tenant thereunder, or (ii) under certain circumstances, pay a certain termination fee [...]; provided that upon payment of such termination fee, Google would be entitled to acquire an equity interest in Raylan" ; "The termination fee payable under the Justified Google Backstop amortizes over a defined term" ; "On November 4, 2026, in connection with the Justified Google Backstop, Raylan and Anthropic entered into amendments to the Justified Leases." ; "*Certain schedules and exhibits to this agreement have been omitted pursuant to Item 601(a)(5) of Regulation S-K."	https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1083301/000162828026069810/wulf-20261104.htm
S2↑1↑2↑3↑4↑5↑6+1	"today announced the execution of credit support agreements with Google LLC (“Google”) in connection with debt financing supporting approximately $19 billion of contracted lease commitments with Anthropic, PBC (“Anthropic”) at its Justified Data Campus in Hawesville, Kentucky" ; "Google LLC, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., provides contractual credit support for anticipated debt financing supporting TeraWulf’s long-term Justified development. Alphabet’s senior unsecured debt is rated AA+ by S&P Global Ratings and Aa2 by Moody’s." ; "phased ready-for-service completions are expected to begin in late 2027 and continue through the second quarter of 2028"	https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1083301/000162828026069810/wulfhawesvillecsaandepcmpr.htm
S3↑1↑2↑3↑4	(Exhibit 10.1, template agreement) "by and among RAYLAN DATA LLC [...] (“ Landlord ”), TERAWULF INC. [...] JUSTIFIED DATAPOWER LLC [...] ANTHROPIC, PBC [...] (“ Tenant ”), and GOOGLE LLC" ; "k. Tenant (and any Affiliate thereof) shall use only Google-approved tensor processing units for accelerator processors in the Premises for the entire term of this Agreement."	https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1083301/000162828026069810/exhibit101-googlexterawulf.htm
S4↑1↑2↑3↑4↑5↑6	(Exhibit 10.1) "Google’s obligations under Section 4 of this Agreement shall only be effective upon the occurrence of the Commencement Date for the last Data Hall to be delivered pursuant to the Lease (such date, the “ CSA Effective Date ”)" ; "if the CSA Effective Date occurs while such Insolvency Event or Event of Default is continuing, such Insolvency Event or Event of Default shall constitute a Default Trigger" ; "In the event that (i) Tenant has become subject to an Insolvency Event (defined below) or (ii) an Event of Default under Section 15.1.1 of the Lease has occurred" ; "(u) a petition in bankruptcy [...] (z) any other instance whereby Tenant or any general partner of Tenant shall cease doing business as a going concern" ; "Google will have a period of thirty (30) days after receipt of the Default Trigger Notice (“ Verification Period ”)" ; "to either: (i) allow the Lease to be terminated by Landlord (the “ Google Rejection Option ”); or (ii) pay all Rent under the Lease that is then, currently, properly due and owing by Tenant to Landlord and assume the Lease as the Tenant thereunder" ; "if Google has neither provided the Google Election Notice nor elected the Deferral Option [...] Google will be deemed to have elected the Google Rejection Option (unless the Verification Period ends prior to the sixth (6 th ) anniversary of the CSA Effective Date and the Equipment Capacity Trigger has not occurred, in which case Google shall be deemed to have elected the Google Assumption Option)"	idem
S5↑1↑2↑3↑4↑5↑6	(Exhibit 10.1) "Landlord will send notice to Google [...] with an invoice for Google in the amount of the termination fee (the “ Termination Fee ”)" ; "not to exceed the amount applicable to the date of termination according to the schedule of Termination Fee [...] attached to this Agreement as Schedule C-1" ; "such amount shall decrease throughout the applicable period" ; "in no event will the total of all Termination Fees [...] exceed the lesser of (x) $[ ] 1 and (y) an amount equal to [ ] percent ([ ]%) 2" ; "1 Corresponds to anticipated maximum Project Debt amount." ; "Google will have the right to elect to acquire an equity interest position in Landlord, expressed as a fraction of such total ownership interests equal to the quotient of (i) the amount of the Termination Fee paid by Google divided by (ii) the total cost to develop the Land and construct the Building" ; "Google shall not exercise the Google Rejection Option within the first six (6) years after the CSA Effective Date unless the Equipment Capacity Trigger occurs. “ Equipment Capacity Trigger ” means that the TPU Pods installed within the Building, when in operation, are capable of consuming less than fifty percent (50%) of the Tenant Critical Power. “ TPU Pods ” means a pod consisting of compute racks with tensor processing units (TPUs) and the necessary associated ML (machine learning) and TPU systems, and pod-specific networking racks."	idem
S6↑1↑2↑3	(Exhibit 10.1) "if a Default Trigger has occurred only under clause (ii) of the definition of Default Trigger, but no Insolvency Event has occurred, then Google may elect, by written notice to Landlord, to defer any exercise of the Google Assumption Option or Google Rejection Option" ; "Google agrees to pay to Landlord (i) all Rent under the Lease that is due and owing that Tenant has not paid as of the date of such election and (ii) all additional Rent that becomes due and owing during the Deferral Period that Tenant does not pay" ; "(iv) Tenant, any direct or indirect successor parent company of Tenant [...] or any subsidiary of Tenant [...] obtaining a credit rating of [investment grade] or higher by S&P or Fitch, or [investment grade] or higher by Moody’s, for a period of at least three (3) months at any time during the Term of the Lease" ; "Tenant shall, within thirty (30) days after the date on which the Credit Rating Requirement is satisfied, cause the applicable Tenant Successor Parent or Tenant Subsidiary to guarantee [...] the full payment and performance of all of Tenant’s obligations under the Lease"	idem
S7↑	(EDGAR record of 05/11/2026 at 08:12 UTC) "2026-11-04T13:16:25.000Z 8-K 0001628280-26-069810 wulf-20261104.htm"	https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0001083301.json
R1↑	Kira's calculation, S1S2: $19,000M / 401 MW = $47.4M per MW, over the duration of commitments as counted by the press release (not specified)	— (in-house calculation)
R2↑	Kira's calculation, ASSUMPTION not written in the filings: $19,000M spread evenly over 20 years = $950M per year; 950 / 365 = $2.6M per day	— (in-house calculation)