Anthropic Acquires Nearly a Million Google TPU v7 Ironwood Accelerators
The artificial intelligence company Anthropic is organizing one of the largest AI hardware purchases in history. Its plan is to acquire approximately one million units of the Google TPU v7 accelerator, known by the code name Ironwood. This move underscores the race to scale language models to unprecedented levels. 🚀
A Deal Divided into Two Fronts
According to reports from the firm SemiAnalysis, the acquisition is divided into two clear parts. Anthropic will buy directly from Broadcom about 400,000 units already mounted in racks, valued at around 10 billion dollars. The other 600,000 units of the TPU v7 will be obtained as a service through the Google Cloud Platform (GCP), within a larger contract. The company will manage the systems it purchases directly in its own facilities.
Key Details of the Acquisition:- Direct Purchase: 400,000 TPU v7 Ironwood from Broadcom, valued at ~$10B.
- Cloud Access: 600,000 TPU v7 through Google Cloud Platform.
- Self-Management: Anthropic will operate the directly purchased systems.
While some mine cryptocurrencies, others now 'mine' parameters for language models on a colossal scale, switching from one type of hash to another.
External Partners for Physical Infrastructure
To avoid managing physical servers, Anthropic delegates this task. The operators TeraWulf and Cipher Mining will handle the data center infrastructure for the directly purchased accelerators. The European company Fluidstack will handle on-site configuration, cable laying, testing, and remote maintenance. It is speculated that these systems will use a simplified interconnection topology to optimize performance. 🔌
Roles of the Operating Partners:- TeraWulf & Cipher Mining: Manage the data center infrastructure.
- Fluidstack: Configures the equipment, lays cables, tests, and provides remote support.
- Google: Acts as financial backing for the agreements between these companies.
Google's Financial Backing and Impact on GCP
Google financially secures the agreements that Fluidstack establishes with TeraWulf and Cipher Mining. It is interesting that both operators previously focused on cryptocurrency mining. Google is a co-owner of TeraWulf and could acquire a stake in Cipher Mining. A curiosity is that these two operators also maintain ties with AWS, Google Cloud's direct rival. The GCP part of the deal, valued at about 42 billion dollars, explains much of the 46% growth in the platform's order backlog during the third quarter of 2025. This massive deployment of computing power marks a turning point in how generative AI is built and scaled. 💡