US Defense Department May Loan $5 Billion to FluidStack for AI Infrastructure

The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that the US Department of Defense may join the growing ranks of AI infrastructure financiers through a loan to FluidStack. FluidStack is a notable neocloud (emerging AI cloud service) company that previously struck a compute deal with Anthropic.

The company is in talks with the Defense Department's Office of Strategic Capital for a $5 billion loan, with contract details including interest rates not yet finalized. The Office of Strategic Capital has previously provided funding to rare earth supply chain and drone companies.

If the deal is reached at $5 billion, it would set a record for the office's national security strategic financing. Sources say FluidStack will use the loan to strengthen US supply chains and manufacturing capacity for data center-related components, rather than directly investing in new AI facilities.