Anthropic eyes its first Japanese data center in Osaka

What happened: Nikkei Asia, citing multiple sources, reports that NTT Data is in final talks to build a large Osaka data center for Anthropic, which would be Anthropic's first dedicated data center in Japan. Construction could cost up to $6.3 billion, with partial operations as early as 2028, and it would rank among Japan's largest by capacity. Bloomberg says Anthropic is also eyeing Australia.
Austin's take: Austin says Anthropic has no choice but to grab as much compute as possible, because unlike Meta or SpaceX AI it relies mostly on model revenue to fund huge compute commitments. He calls it a chess game and a good thing for Japan and Australia.
Why it matters: Anthropic's global compute hunt shows how much money is riding on AI demand, especially for labs without other businesses to fall back on.
What to do: Watch for a signed deal before NTT's fiscal year ends as a signal of how aggressively Anthropic is scaling.
Not confirmed yet: Nothing is signed yet, talks could fall apart, and the $6.3 billion figure is a ceiling estimate.

The Loop