Anthropic Secures $10 Billion Compute Deal as Canada Grapples with AI Energy Needs

Anthropic has signed a six‑year, $10 billion agreement with cloud‑infrastructure startup Volta Infra Holdings, backed by Nvidia, to obtain 133 megawatts of computing capacity at a data centre in Norway. The facility, built alongside Bitcoin‑mining firm Bitdeer, will use Nvidia’s next‑generation Vera Rubin AI chips to support the company’s Claude assistant and other large‑scale AI models.

At the same time, analysts warn that Canada’s ambition to become a leading AI hub faces a critical electricity challenge. The country’s cool climate and largely non‑emitting power mix make it attractive for AI data centres, but the rapid growth of AI workloads could strain grid capacity. Experts say new transmission lines, renewable generation and storage will be needed, and that AI‑focused data centres could act as “anchor tenants” for such infrastructure upgrades.