Key points
- TeraWulf (WULF) is raising about $3.5 billion in debt, its first-ever leveraged loan market deal alongside high-yield bonds, to build the Kentucky data center campus backing its 20-year, $19 billion Anthropic lease.
- The stock is up about 5% today, but that mostly recovers ground lost in the sell-the-news fade after the original Anthropic announcement on July 6, not a fresh breakout to new highs.
- This is TeraWulf's third major debt raise in under a year, after roughly $3.2 billion in October 2025 and $1.3 billion in December 2025, pushing total new debt toward $8 billion.
- The Kentucky campus isn't expected online until the second half of 2027, so the debt arrives years before the Anthropic revenue that's supposed to help repay it.
TeraWulf (WULF) is going back to the debt markets, and this time it's a new kind of deal for the company. It's lining up about $3.5 billion, split between high-yield bonds and, for the first time ever, leveraged loans, to build the data center it promised Anthropic three days ago. The stock is up again today, and it's worth being precise about what that move actually shows before calling it bullish.
What TeraWulf is actually raising
The $3.5 billion funds construction of TeraWulf's campus in Hawesville, Kentucky, the site behind the 20-year, $19 billion lease it signed with Anthropic on July 6. The campus is expected to deliver roughly 401 megawatts of capacity, with Morgan Stanley arranging the financing. Terms are still being worked out, but the deal is expected to launch later this year, and it marks TeraWulf's first entry into the leveraged loan market specifically, a financing tool typically reserved for companies with an established credit profile.
The timing matters. TeraWulf doesn't expect the Kentucky site running until the second half of 2027, which means the company is borrowing billions of dollars years before a dollar of Anthropic revenue shows up. Data centers get built on debt all the time, so that alone isn't unusual, but it does mean TeraWulf pays interest starting now while Anthropic's rent checks don't start until 2027.
This is debt number three
TeraWulf has been busy. In October 2025, it raised roughly $3.2 billion to expand its Lake Mariner campus in New York, backed in part by Google, which holds a stake in the company and helped that deal land a better credit rating. In December, TeraWulf sold another $1.3 billion in high-yield bonds. Add this week's $3.5 billion and the company has taken on close to $8 billion in new debt in under a year.
None of that debt dilutes existing shareholders, which is the case bulls make for preferring it over an equity raise. It still has to be repaid on schedule, with interest, no matter how the AI buildout plays out. A company that was mining bitcoin not long ago is now carrying a debt load that rivals established utilities, and all of it depends on long-term leases with customers like Anthropic and Fluidstack actually paying out as structured over the next decade-plus.
What today's stock move actually shows
WULF traded around $23.98 Thursday, up about 5% from Wednesday's close of $22.83. On its own, that looks like a clean bullish reaction to the financing news. Pull up the last week of trading and the picture gets more complicated.
| Date | Close | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 1 | $23.58 | |
| Jul 2 | $21.18 | |
| Jul 6 | $22.21 | Anthropic lease announced; spiked intraday to $25.15, gave most of it back |
| Jul 7 | $20.24 | Continued sliding, intraday low $19.09 |
| Jul 8 | $22.83 | Started recovering |
| Jul 9 | ~$23.98 | Up on today's debt financing news |
Today's gain is mostly TeraWulf climbing back toward the intraday high it already touched on July 6, still short of a fresh high. We covered that first spike and fade in detail, along with why the stock whipped around so hard: WULF carries short interest around 30% of its float, one of the highest levels in the sector, which amplifies moves in both directions. Some of today's pop is likely shorts covering into good news rather than fresh buying alone. For the original lease announcement and what TeraWulf sold to fund it, see our full writeup here.
Weighing it out
Three days ago TeraWulf announced a $19 billion Anthropic deal. This week it lined up the money to actually build what that deal requires, and that's the strongest argument for the bulls. Morgan Stanley leading the financing is a credibility signal, and getting access to the leveraged loan market for the first time suggests lenders are willing to underwrite TeraWulf's transition from bitcoin miner to AI infrastructure company at real scale.
Set against that: close to $8 billion in new debt in under twelve months is serious leverage for a company this size, and every dollar of it needs to be serviced with interest payments well before the Kentucky campus generates a dollar of revenue in 2027. Data center construction routinely runs late or over budget across the industry, and if that happens here, TeraWulf carries the debt load through the delay with no matching cash flow to lean on. The stock's own price action this week, a violent spike followed by an almost-as-violent fade, shows the market hasn't settled on which side wins yet.
Bottom line
Is the debt raise itself bullish? It supports the case that the Anthropic deal is moving from paperwork to actual construction. Is the stock's move today proof of that? Less clean than it looks, since most of it is TeraWulf reclaiming ground it already touched and lost three days ago. Both things can be true at once, and separating them is the whole job here. Judge the financing on whether the Anthropic lease actually gets built and pays out over the next decade. Judge today's stock move separately, on how much of it is short covering versus real conviction, because those are answered by different evidence.
Sources
- Bloomberg, TeraWulf eyes $3.5 billion for Anthropic-leased data center
- Related coverage: TeraWulf (WULF) stock jumps 18% on a 20-year, $19 billion Anthropic data center lease
- Related coverage: TeraWulf (WULF) spiked 18%, then gave most of it back: sell the news, buy the rumor
- Related coverage: TeraWulf, CoreWeave, and Nebius are having a big day
- Price data via Robinhood market data
- Cover photo: Microsoft data center, Middenmeer, Netherlands, by Hay Kranen, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped
This is analysis and opinion for information only, not investment advice. Figures come from market reporting and live pricing as of midday July 9, 2026, and can change quickly, especially in a heavily shorted stock like this one. Do your own research before making any decisions.
