---
title: "Offtake: what it means · The AI Compute Race · DRYBURGH"
source: https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/offtake
description: "Offtake: A customer that has contracted for the capacity a project will supply; an offtake agreement is that contract, and lenders lend against it."
---

# Offtake

What does “Offtake” mean?

OfftakeA customer that has contracted for the capacity a project will supply; an offtake agreement is that contract, and lenders lend against it. *Chapters 6, 10.*

From *The AI Compute Race*. [Read the book](https://dryburgh.com/vol1#buy)

## Where the book uses it

- [Chapter 6 — Firm, Around-the-Clock](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/notes/chapter-6)Where the electricity comes from: grid queues, transformers, turbines and the firm power a datacenter needs every hour of the year, on calendars the buildout does not control.
- [Chapter 10 — The Lender’s Decision](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/notes/chapter-10)Who is lending the money and who bears the loss: the bonds, leases and guarantees behind the largest campuses, and how the paper reaches ordinary retirement accounts.

## Also discussed in

- Campus [Colossus 1](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/ledger/colossus-1)

## Sources that use it

- Daniel Nishball, Cheang Kang Wen, Zane Fong and six others, “Nvidia GPU Debt Backstop Unleashes the AI Project Trinity: Capital, Offtake and Datacenters,” *SemiAnalysis*, 6 July 2026 (the free portion of a paid post, 4,541 of 6,043 words by the publisher’s count; the firm’s account of lenders’ practice and its own price estimate: “banks look at the DSCR ratios assuming revenue earned under the scenario where the backstop is activated. They are looking for a DSCR of at least 1.3x”; for a GB300, “the current 6y fixed price of ~$4.00”) (SemiAnalysis sells subscriptions, consulting and its own models of chip, memory and datacenter supply into the markets it measures, the GPU clouds and their lenders among them; its section on NVIDIA’s own accounts is for paid subscribers and was not read; held in the Library since Sourcing’s capture of 5 October 2026). [In the Sources](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/sources/research#semianalysis-backstop-jul26)

## Related terms

- [Backstop](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/backstop)
- [Beignet](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/beignet)
- [10-K, 10-Q](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/10-k-10-q)
- [Basis point](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/basis-point)
- [Batch Zero](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/batch-zero)
- [Behind the meter](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/behind-the-meter)
- [Bridge loan](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/bridge-loan)
- [Bridge power](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/bridge-power)
- [Capacity auction](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/capacity-auction)
- [Combined-cycle](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/combined-cycle)
- [Convertible](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/convertible)
- [Coupon](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/coupon)

From the glossary of The AI Compute Race.

- [Campuses](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/ledger)
- [Tests](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/tests)
- [Scorecard](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/scorecard)
- [Data](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/data/releases)
- [Chapter by chapter](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/companion)
- [The record at a glance](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/observatory)
- [The machine](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/machine)
- [One campus, four futures](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/hyperion)
- [Glossary](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary)
- [People](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/people)
- [Sources](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/sources)
- [Notes](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/notes)
- [Where the book was wrong](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/corrections)
- [Where its sources were wrong](https://dryburgh.com/corrections?book=vol1)
- [The Paper](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/paper)
- [Consent](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/consent)
- [Who builds and pays](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/parties)

*The AI Compute Race: Five Races, One Machine* is a book by Lee S. Dryburgh, the first volume of THE COMPUTE ECONOMY, published by Dryburgh, an imprint of Contestra OÜ, Tallinn, Estonia; its record closes on 8 November 2026.

[About the book](https://dryburgh.com/vol1)[Tell me when it is out](https://dryburgh.com/vol1#notify)