The TensorX and Solstice partnership will fund AI hardware and EU data centers and launch aiUSX, a performance asset that leverages companies’ idle AI capital as infrastructure lending.
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Developing mainstream AI in Europe requires chips, and chips require capital. TensorX and Solstice have announced a partnership to create a financing facility with the potential for up to $1 billion for AI hardware and data center capacity across the EU. The goal is to meet the growing demand for computing power that remains on European soil.
Solstice will provide the funding chain for the development and is launching aiUSX, a yield-based asset designed to open up infrastructure lending to companies with funds earmarked for AI. The proposition is that money earmarked for future AI spending can yield something useful while it waits.
TensorX owns and operates a fleet of NVIDIA GPUs and delivers AI models from EU data centers with zero data retention, predictable pricing, and top-notch performance. It partners with AI startups and enterprises across the bloc, with plans to expand to other jurisdictions.
“Europe wants AI that can operate on its own terms, on its own soil, without handing over its data to someone else’s cloud on the international stage,” said Tim Grant, executive chairman of TensorX. “Meeting this accelerating demand requires hardware, and lots of it. The $1 billion invested in GPUs and data center capacity is the first step, and we expect to continue to buy as demand grows. Solstice offers us a financing partner that can keep up with this incredibly fast-paced market.”
The logic behind aiUSX starts with a mismatch. Companies hold growing stocks of cash and fixed assets for their AI spending while their induction bills grow, and the two pools remain separate: the cash yields nothing while it waits. aiUSX is intended to close this gap. The capital a company allocates for AI goes into the asset, which opens up access to the AI infrastructure lending that Solstice funds, the same deals that large institutions fund.
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The presentation is intentional. A company takes on the role of an infrastructure lender without becoming one or assuming any collateral. At launch, aiUSX will be capped at $5 million, with returns generated by the lending it provides access to. The capital, Solstice says, remains liquid and redeemable, and what it earns is intended to cover the costs of the induction later.
“Every company is becoming an AI company, and every one of them is seeing their induction bill grow,” said Ben Nadareski, CEO of Solstice. “aiUSX leverages the money that has been allocated to AI in the meantime. They get access to the type of AI infrastructure lending that is typically owned by large institutions, the capital remains liquid, and what they earn goes towards induction later. It’s fund management for the AI era.”
Both companies are part of the Deus X Capital, a connection the firm touts as the reason it can bring the pieces together. “Dominant AI is one of the biggest infrastructure developments of this decade, and it’s as much about capital as it is about chips,” said Stuart Connolly, chief investment officer at Deus X Capital. “TensorX builds the compute power, Solstice brings the funding, and aiUSX allows more companies to participate in its funding.”
Solstice describes itself as an on-chain settlement and performance protocol with a three-year audited track record and over $500 million in total locked value. The $1 billion figure is a possibility, not a commitment.
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How much of this will be drawn down will depend on how quickly demand increases.
