Anthropic-Linked Texas Data Center Secures $1.3 Billion Mezzanine Private Credit
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Eagle Point Credit Management has provided roughly $1.3 billion in mezzanine private credit to a Texas AI data center where Anthropic will be the anchor tenant — part of a $16 billion financing package backstopped by Google and led by Morgan Stanley, a sign that the AI compute arms race is stretching Wall Street's risk appetite into new territory.
What is this $1.3 billion loan, exactly?
Eagle Point Credit Management — a Greenwich, Connecticut firm managing about $14 billion in assets — is the single largest investor in a ~$1.3 billion private credit facility for an AI data center in Hubbard, Texas.
The loan is structured as mezzanine debt — a layer that sits below senior bank loans but above equity, offering higher returns in exchange for higher risk.
This means → Eagle Point earns a better rate than the banks, but if the project runs into trouble, it stands behind Morgan Stanley and other senior lenders in the repayment queue.
Where does the $16 billion financing package come from?
The project is led by developer Nexus Data Centers, with a total financing package of $16 billion.
The structure has two tiers: senior financing of roughly $15 billion, led by Morgan Stanley and other banks, and the mezzanine tranche — Eagle Point's $1.3 billion — which recently closed.
In plain terms = the banks took the lowest-risk, lowest-return slice; Eagle Point took the riskier layer, betting the project will be built and operated successfully.
What role does Google play?
According to people familiar with the deal, two conditions unlocked the financing: Anthropic won a competitive selection to become the anchor tenant, and Alphabet (Google's parent) agreed to guarantee the senior debt.
Google has served as a debt guarantor on multiple data center projects across the U.S. before.
This means → Google doesn't own the data center, but it underwrote the banks' risk with its own credit — making lenders willing to commit. That also concentrates financial exposure on Google.
How big is the project itself?
The site is in Hubbard, Texas, about 70 miles south of Dallas — roughly 2,900 acres with a dedicated natural-gas power plant built on-site. Anthropic will be the anchor tenant.
This is Nexus's first campus and one of dozens of large-scale AI data center campuses racing to come online across the U.S.
This reflects a broader reality: AI companies' demand for compute has grown so large that building your own power plant is now part of the equation — electricity supply is becoming the decisive bottleneck for data center siting.
How did the financing balloon to this scale?
Eagle Point first approached Nexus in September last year, envisioning roughly $150 million in senior secured financing collateralized by the Hubbard land.
Over the following months, both sides repeatedly scaled up the size and restructured the terms, ultimately arriving at $1.3 billion in mezzanine debt — a nearly 9× increase.
In plain terms = going from $150 million to $1.3 billion shows the project's scope kept expanding during negotiations — and that Eagle Point's conviction on AI data center returns was high enough to keep raising the bet.
What comes next?
Data center developers typically refinance construction-phase debt with new bonds after completion. According to people familiar with the matter, Nexus may seek to issue high-yield bonds later this year to replace the $15 billion in bank-led financing.
That will require obtaining a credit rating — a refinancing milestone that serves as a key test of the project's commercial viability.
This means → the current financing structure is "get the money together and get the building up"; the real market test comes later — whether the bond market is willing to take over will reveal whether this project is truly worth $16 billion.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.