What does the hyperscaler backstop actually commit to?
In the Fluidstack leases at TeraWulf and Cipher sites, Google signed a recognition agreement with the landlord: a right to cure the tenant's defaults, and on a Fluidstack default a choice between taking over the lease or paying a termination fee. For the landlord's bondholders this is the credit behind the lease.
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What the filed contracts say
Contract
What the filed wording says
Google recognition (TeraWulf)
The landlord must give Google notice of a default before terminating; Google may cure, with 15 days to say it will pay missed rent and 30 days to pay.
Google recognition (TeraWulf)
On Fluidstack's insolvency or payment default, Google may let the lease end and pay a scheduled fee only if the default comes after the first six years, or the installed equipment can draw less than 50% of the baseline capacity. Otherwise it must assume the lease.
Google recognition (TeraWulf)
The termination fee follows a schedule, paid within 15 days of the landlord's invoice.
Google recognition (Cipher)
The amended Barber Lake agreement adds a 90-day period to agree a replacement tenant; if none is agreed, Google is liable for the rent for those 90 days, at rates set in the agreement.
The filed wording
Akela will not seek to terminate the Fluidstack Lease by reason of any act or omission that constitutes (or would over time constitute) a default by Fluidstack under such Fluidstack Lease, until Akela shall have given written notice of such act or omission to Google (as required under the Fluidstack Lease, Item 3 of the Basic Lease Information); and Google shall have the right, but not the obligation, to remedy such act or omission on Fluidstack’s behalf, subject to the time periods in Section 15.1 (Events of Default By Tenant) of the Fluidstack Lease, except with respect to any failure or refusal by Tenant to timely pay any Rent or any other payments or charges required to be paid thereunder, it shall not constitute an Event of Default by Tenant under Section 15.1.1 of the Fluidstack Lease if Google gives written notice to Akela of its intent to remedy such failure or refusal no later than the fifteenth (15 th) day after Google’s receipt of the default notice and thereafter pays such Rent or other payments or charges properly due and owing no later than the thirtieth (30 th) day after receipt of a correct, itemized invoice from Akela.
Each extract is quoted from the contract as filed with the SEC, checked against the filed text when it was added; “…” marks words left out. Filers redact commercial terms, so a [***] or [*] is the filer's, not ours. The summaries describe the wording, not how a court would read it, and each contract's defined terms and other clauses can change the effect. General information drawn from public filings. It is not legal advice on any transaction, and using this page does not create a lawyer-client relationship. Views are personal.
InfraCompute Weekly
The week in compute finance, read from the filings.
Deals, terms and the clauses behind them, for the people financing data centres, GPU clouds and the power behind them. By Randeep Bubbra.