TeraWulf has secured its first tenant for the artificial intelligence data center planned at the former Century Aluminum site in Hawesville, announcing Monday that AI company Anthropic has signed a 20-year lease expected to generate approximately $19 billion in contracted revenue.
The announcement identifies Anthropic as the previously unnamed “hyperscaler” customer that local officials said the company expected to announce this summer.
According to its website, Anthropic is an artificial intelligence research and product company that developed the Claude family of AI assistants and describes itself as a public benefit corporation focused on building AI systems that are “reliable, interpretable, and steerable.” Anthropic has also received major investments from Amazon and Google in recent years.
Under the agreement, Anthropic will lease a purpose-built AI infrastructure campus at TeraWulf’s Justified Data campus in Hawesville. The facility will support approximately 401 megawatts of critical IT load and will be developed in multiple phases. Initial operations are expected to begin during the second half of 2027, with the campus reaching full capacity by early 2028, according to the company.
Hancock County Judge-Executive Johnnie Roberts said TeraWulf notified county officials Monday morning that Anthropic had been selected as the project’s tenant after previously indicating it expected to identify a hyperscaler customer this summer.
The project will redevelop the former Century Aluminum smelter, which has remained idle since 2022 after the company halted operations because of economic conditions, eliminating more than 600 jobs.
While the new facility will employ fewer workers than the aluminum plant, TeraWulf has reaffirmed earlier projections that the campus will create between 100 and 120 permanent jobs, Roberts said.
County officials also continue working with the company to address residents’ questions, particularly surrounding power demand, water consumption, and noise.
Roberts said TeraWulf has agreed to complete a noise study before the facility begins operating and again after it is online to verify that sound levels remain within projected limits.
“They said they would complete that study before and during operations so adjustments can be made if the results aren’t what they’re predicting,” Roberts said.
He said the company has consistently maintained that the data center will use approximately the same amount of electricity as Century Aluminum previously consumed while requiring less water than the smelter uses daily.
“They’ve publicly said they want to use the same amount of power Century used,” Roberts said. “They’ve also said water usage will be less than Century’s daily water usage and that the noise level will be basically inaudible at the property line.”
The Hawesville property already had heavy industrial zoning and the necessary electrical infrastructure in place, meaning the project did not require approval from Hancock Fiscal Court.
“This was a private sale to a company that already had the zoning it needed,” Roberts said. “There was no Fiscal Court approval required.”
In announcing the lease, TeraWulf said the agreement validates the company’s strategy of developing large-scale AI infrastructure campuses with direct customer relationships.
“When we announced the Justified Data campus acquisition in February, we told investors that we expected to secure a major customer commitment by around the end of the second quarter of 2026,” TeraWulf Chairman and CEO Paul Prager said in a statement. “The timing of today’s announcement reflects the completion of final documentation and customary transaction processes, and we are proud to announce this landmark partnership with Anthropic.”
Prager said the lease establishes a long-term revenue stream while creating opportunities for future expansion at the Hawesville campus.
“The Anthropic lease validates our strategy and establishes a long-duration revenue stream with one of the world’s leading AI companies,” he said.
Along with the Anthropic announcement, TeraWulf also announced it is selling its majority ownership interest in a Texas joint venture to an investor group led by Fluidstack. The company said the transaction will generate capital to be reinvested in wholly owned AI infrastructure projects, including the Hawesville campus.
Roberts said the project’s long-term tax impact remains uncertain because the property’s final assessed value has not yet been determined.
Although the project will not replace all of the jobs lost when Century Aluminum closed, Roberts said county leaders believe it represents a positive step for Hancock County.
“A lot of people lost their jobs, which was really the worst part of it,” Roberts said. “We’re hopeful we can get the answers we want. They have been working with us on these issues.”
