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One free note every day on what changed in AI infrastructure: who gets paid, where the money sticks, and what to watch next.
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Nvidia has asked Samsung, SK hynix and Micron to make the base die of its custom HBM on TSMC's 3nm process, a Korean paper reported on 18 October, and Samsung has agreed. TSMC is paid per wafer whoever wins; its 3nm lines are already its biggest node.
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Anthropic is offering Blackstone funds a 10% coupon on $9 billion of junior debt in a $60 billion plan for about 1.5 GW of Google TPUs, the FT reported on 16 October. The chip debt got bigger, and the riskiest layer got dearer than June's 8.5%.
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Modal raised $750 million at a $15.75 billion valuation on 14 October after its run rate passed $1 billion. It sells AI computing by the second on capacity from more than 20 clouds, in the same week the chip owners' debt got dearer.
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On 15 October Samsung said construction of a second 2nm chip plant in Taylor, Texas, starts in November, for mass production in 2030. Its first Taylor fab is still in qualification, a year late, and Tesla is the only customer it has named.
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Nscale's flagship Glomfjord data center in Norway is six months behind schedule with 6.4 MW of 30 MW running, Bloomberg reported on 16 October. Its IPO filing counts $103.4 billion of contracts, $2.6 billion active, and no committed financing yet for Anthropic's Monarch build.
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NiSource signed a 20-year deal on 16 October to power Microsoft's Indiana data center campus from 2028, adding about 1,100 MW to a shared pool Microsoft pays for. The only named plant is a 600 MW battery that is not binding until two contracts are signed by 31 January.
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On 16 October EverWind unveiled a $10 billion plan for a 420 MW data center campus and wind farms in Nova Scotia, and Anthropic signed a 20-year lease for the first 95 MW. The 325 MW expansion has no tenant named and still needs financing and grid approval.
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CoreWeave's five-year default swaps passed 1,000 basis points on 15 October after Gartner forecast that most neoclouds will not stay independent by 2030. Nvidia's promise to buy unsold capacity covers empty racks, not the bonds, so the stuck step is unsecured refinancing.
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Mason County, Kentucky named Meta on 13 October as the developer of a planned 2.2 GW data center campus, with $10 billion to start and a 396 MW first building. Meta pays for about $566 million of new grid, but the stuck step is the dedicated power supply the state's tariff requires above 250 MW.
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On 9 October Digital Realty offered De Soto, Kansas households up to $1,000 a year for 10 years, $20 million in all, ahead of a campus with 600 MW of power due by early 2028. No tenant is named, and a tax district hearing is set for 19 November.
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TSMC's 15 October print puts 2-nanometer at 8% of wafer revenue and HPC at 68% of sales. Gross margin 66.4% on the N2 ramp; Q4 guides $52.3–54.3 billion. Demand is still above supply.
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Lambda is raising up to $4 billion at a $14.5 billion pre-money valuation ahead of a planned 2027 IPO, with backlog at $50 billion — mostly Anthropic. Five days earlier it closed a $1.008 billion IG loan marketed to insurers. The stuck step for neoclouds is equity when one lab dominates the book.
