Anthropic is the previously unnamed customer behind a roughly $13.7 billion, six-year deal to buy AI computing services from RUM Group, The Information reported, according to TECHi. Neither company had confirmed the report at the time.
RUM Group, which owns the video platform Rumble and the European AI cloud company Northern Data, disclosed the contract on August 24 without naming the buyer, describing it only as “an unaffiliated U.S.-based third party cloud customer.”
Deal terms
According to RUM Group’s Form 8-K, the agreement covers access to GPUs and GPU services at a site in Maysville, Georgia, that the filing says is “currently under development.” The total order value is split across three tranches. Before obligations on the third tranche apply, the customer must review and approve RUM Group’s proposed delivery date, which gives the buyer an exit point on about a third of the contract.
The customer also gets a warrant to buy up to 50.8 million RUM Group Class A shares at one cent each, about 18% of that class. Half vests in three steps as each GPU tranche is purchased. The other half vests only if the companies sign new expansion agreements, and full vesting would require expansion purchases of more than two and a half times the first three tranches. At RUM Group’s then-recent close of $7.17, the full warrant would be worth about $364 million, TECHi calculated.
Financing risk
RUM Group has said it doesn’t yet have financing to build the Maysville site and buy the GPUs, and its obligations aren’t conditioned on raising the money. Tether and co-founder Giancarlo Devasini reported owning 50.3% of RUM Group’s Class A shares in a September 4 filing.
Penny warrants for big customers are becoming a feature of AI infrastructure deals. TECHi pointed to HPE giving Oracle a warrant for 4.16 million shares at one cent each, vesting as Oracle buys networking equipment. For Anthropic, the deal adds another supplier as it lines up capacity to meet demand for Claude.
WebProNews is an iEntry Publication