The Pentagon is in talks to lend about $5 billion to Fluidstack, an AI cloud-computing startup. The money would come from its Office of Strategic Capital, which lends to companies in areas tied to national security. A loan that size would be by far the office's largest so far. The office was set up under the Biden administration. Fluidstack is being advised on the loan by a bank founded by Palmer Luckey, an early backer of Donald Trump. The talks add the US military to a growing list of financiers of AI computing capacity. Nothing has been agreed on the record. The Wall Street Journal reports the talks, citing people familiar with the matter.

• $5 billion loan under discussion
• largest to date for the office