A new Kentucky AI data center will power Anthropic as part of a 20-year deal

Kentucky is set to become home to a massive new artificial intelligence data center that will power Anthropic’s AI models under a deal expected to generate nearly $20 billion in revenue.

TeraWulf, a Bitcoin mining company turned AI data center developer, announced Monday that Anthropic signed a 20-year lease for a “purpose-built AI infrastructure campus” at a former industrial site that TeraWulf acquired earlier this year in Hawesville, a city of about 1,000 people.

The lease is expected to generate about $19 billion of contracted revenue over the initial term, according to TeraWulf, which also said the lease is “expected to be supported by an investment-grade credit.”

“The Anthropic lease validates our strategy and establishes a long-duration revenue stream with one of the world’s leading AI companies,” TeraWulf CEO Paul Prager said in a statement.

Prager added that the lease deal with the AI firm behind Claude “creates a framework for future expansion, and demonstrates the value of our ability to source power, develop infrastructure, and secure long-term customer commitments.”

The Hawesville data center will be developed in phases. Once complete, it will have enough power capacity to support about 400 megawatts of AI computing equipment.

The campus is expected to initially provide power for AI computing during the second half of 2027 before reaching its full 401-megawatt capacity by early 2028, TeraWulf said.

The AI data center is being built on the 750-acre site of what was previously Century Aluminum’s smelter, which was idled in 2022 before the site was sold to TeraWulf earlier this year.