TeraWulf, a company that once mined Bitcoin, has leased a 401-megawatt site in Hawesville, Kentucky, to AI firm Anthropic for 20 years. The deal is expected to bring in roughly $19 billion in revenue. It's a concrete sign of how crypto infrastructure is being repurposed for the AI boom — and how tight the market for data center power has become.
The deal's details
The site isn't built yet. Power delivery is scheduled to start in late 2027, with full load expected by early 2028. That timeline puts the project years out, but the revenue projection — $19 billion over two decades — shows the kind of money AI companies are willing to commit for guaranteed capacity.
Data center delays pile up
That kind of forward planning makes sense given the current climate. Data Center Watch reported that at least 75 US data center projects were blocked or delayed in early 2026, worth about $130 billion. It was the worst quarter on record. Opposition groups against data centers have doubled and now operate in 49 states. Getting a new site approved and built is no longer a sure thing.
Chamath's bet on land and power
Social Capital founder Chamath Palihapitiya has been vocal about where he thinks the real opportunity is. He advises against investing in AI chips directly. Instead, he says, buy land, power connections, and empty buildings for data centers. He and his partner Anita Vlallian have already acquired nearly six gigawatts of power capacity, with delivery scheduled through 2029. Palihapitiya helped start Groq in 2016; Nvidia licensed Groq's inference technology in December 2025 in a non-exclusive deal reportedly worth $20 billion. But he says he wouldn't start a chip company again — the speed requirements, exacting factories, and memory shortages for startups are too punishing.
Crypto's own crosscurrents
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said this week that despite the bear market, there's a lot of money looking for investments. Bitcoin trades near $63,037, down 45% from its October 2025 record. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong disputed warnings about Bitcoin mining, arguing that hash power or energy going to mining doesn't determine Bitcoin's price because of difficulty adjustment. Jordi Visser of 22V Research predicts the easy money in AI is over, expecting about 30% annual returns going forward — still strong, but not the moonshot some hoped for.
The TeraWulf-Anthropic lease is a bet that the AI buildout will keep demanding power for years. But with delivery years away and opposition growing, execution is everything.
