Anthropic, the San Francisco-based AI company behind the Claude models, has locked in a 20-year lease for the entire Justified Data campus in Hawesville, Kentucky, a move TeraWulf says could translate into roughly $19 billion in contracted revenue. The agreement covers about 401 megawatts of critical IT load and will roll out in phases, with initial capacity expected in late 2027 and full buildout targeted for early 2028. For a rural county of fewer than 10,000 residents, the size and speed of this deal land like a thunderclap.
Per TeraWulf’s Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company’s Raylan Data LLC entered into the 20-year lease with Anthropic PBC and described the $19 billion figure as expected contracted lease revenue over the initial term. SEC records lay out the term, phased delivery schedule and options that could extend the relationship. The local business paper also reported the lease and regional details, noting the parties and timing of the announcement, according to Louisville Business First.
The campus sits on the former Century Aluminum smelter site along the Ohio River, and the local wholesale utility has already put its paperwork on the table. Big Rivers Electric submitted a retail service agreement for the Justified Data project to the Kentucky Public Service Commission in April, saying the contract is structured so that TeraWulf bears identified costs and risks for obtaining and transmitting the needed capacity. Kentucky Public Service Commission filings and local reporting explain how existing transmission at the smelter site factors into the plan. AOL has also highlighted both the economic upside and residents’ concerns.
Alongside the lease news, TeraWulf disclosed the sale of its 50.1% stake in the Abernathy joint venture to an investor group led by Fluidstack for about $530 million, a move the company said frees up capital for projects it fully owns. The company attached a press release to the SEC filing and quoted Chairman and CEO Paul Prager calling the Anthropic commitment a validation of TeraWulf’s strategy. GlobeNewswire and the 8-K are attached as public records of the transactions.
Why Power And Location Matter
GPU-dense AI workloads chew through far more electricity than typical cloud tenants, which is why the 401 MW figure, roughly the size of a mid-sized regional power user, is not just a footnote. Long, high-value leases for dedicated capacity like this create a powerful new bid for grid access that can crowd other users and reshape regional energy planning. Financial markets took notice quickly: word of the Anthropic lease moved fast and helped drive investor interest in TeraWulf’s stock the same day.
Local Reaction And Practical Questions
Officials have touted potential jobs, tax revenue and the reuse of heavy industrial infrastructure, while community groups and residents have pushed back over water use, traffic and environmental effects. A petition to pause redevelopment drew more than 1,200 signatures, local reporting shows. AOL also recalls earlier county estimates of substantial tax and economic benefits tied to the smelter site’s revival.
What to watch next: whether Anthropic issues its own public statement on operations at Hawesville, whether Big Rivers and the Kentucky Public Service Commission approve the detailed service terms, who ultimately underwrites the lease via the promised investment-grade credit and whether construction milestones line up with the late-2027 to early-2028 timetable. Developers and utilities will also be under the microscope for any plans to add generation or storage to support the campus without undermining local reliability.
