Neocloud builder
Plan a GPU cloud in five steps: what it costs, what it earns and what lenders will ask for.
What this buys
128 GPUs, $9.72M all in with networking and shipping.
Ballpark from vendor quotes, October 2026: B300 $550-650K, B200 $450-500K, H200 $340K a server; networking $50-70K a server. Before taxes.
EBITDA, first full month, 16 B300 servers
$271K a month
63% margin on $430K of revenue
- Hardware, all in
- $9.72M
- Cash before first revenue
- $6.20M
- DSCR
- 2.12x
- Payback on cash in
- Month 47
- Equity IRR
- 13%
- Lender readiness
- 3 of 15
Bill of materials and capex
$9.72M
128 GPUs, 248.0 kW. Ballpark prices before taxes.
| Item | Qty | Unit | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| B300 servers8 GPUs each, new | 16 | $550K | $8.80M |
| Cluster networkingFabric, switches, optics and cabling | 16 | $55K | $880K |
| ShippingTo the data center | 16 | $2.5K | $40K |
| Hardware, all in | $9.72M |
Uses
- Hardware, all in
- $9.72M
- Closing fee (2% of the loan)
- $97K
- Debt service reserve (3 months)Returned at the end of the loan
- $384K
- Colocation and running costs before first revenue (3 months)
- $475K
- Loan payments before first revenue (3 months)
- $384K
- Total
- $11.1M
Sources
- Loan (50% of the hardware)
- $4.86M
- Your cash
- $6.20M
- Total
- $11.1M
Monthly P&L
$143K a month after the loan
Revenue from month 4; colocation, staff and other running costs from month 1.
First full month (month 4)
- Revenue
- $430K
- Colocation
- -$69K
- Staff
- -$75K
- Insurance
- -$2.9K
- Software and bandwidth
- -$6K
- SG&A
- -$5K
- Loan payment
- -$128K
- Left over
- $143K
Contract: 128 GPUs at $4.60, every hour. On demand: 0 GPUs at $7.50, 80% of hours billed. Each billed GPU-hour costs $3.06 in running costs and debt service.
| Year | Revenue | EBITDA | Debt service | Cash after debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3.87M | $1.97M | $1.54M | $432K |
| 2 | $5.16M | $3.26M | $1.54M | $1.72M |
| 3 | $5.16M | $3.26M | $1.54M | $1.72M |
| 4 | $5.16M | $3.26M | $1.54M | $1.72M |
Every month
| Month | Revenue | Colo | Staff | EBITDA | Payment | DSCR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $0 | $69K | $89K | -$158K | $128K | -1.24x |
| 2 | $0 | $69K | $89K | -$158K | $128K | -1.24x |
| 3 | $0 | $69K | $89K | -$158K | $128K | -1.24x |
| 4 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 5 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 6 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 7 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 8 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 9 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 10 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 11 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 12 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 13 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 14 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 15 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 16 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 17 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 18 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 19 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 20 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 21 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 22 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 23 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 24 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 25 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 26 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 27 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 28 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 29 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 30 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 31 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 32 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 33 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 34 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 35 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 36 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 37 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 38 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 39 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 40 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 41 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 42 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 43 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 44 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 45 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 46 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 47 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
| 48 | $430K | $69K | $89K | $271K | $128K | 2.12x |
Coverage by year
2.12x
EBITDA over debt service. A lender wants 1.50x or more from this customer, counted on contract revenue.
| Case | DSCR | Lowest month | Payback | IRR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PlanThe inputs as set | 2.12x | 2.12x | Mo. 47 | 13% |
| DownsideOn-demand price 30% lower and 20 points fewer hours billed; the contract unchanged | 2.12x | 2.12x | Mo. 47 | 13% |
| Contract onlyNo on-demand revenue at all: how lenders size the loan | 2.12x | 2.12x | Mo. 47 | 13% |
The contract runs to the end of the loan: no balance is left when it ends.
Returns and resale at maturity
13% equity IRR
The loan ends in 2030. Returns assume the servers sell at the middle of the conservative band.
- Your cash in, before first revenue
- $6.20M
- Payback from operations, after debt service
- Month 47
- Money back over money in
- 1.34x
- Equity IRR
- 13%
- Servers at exit, conservative (12-21% of price)
- $1.06M-$1.85M
- Servers at exit, moderate (21-43%)
- $1.85M-$3.78M
Lender readiness
3 of 15 ready
The financing application’s items against this plan: 3 of 15 ready. Tick what you already have.
Offtake
- Have
A named customer for the capacity
Name the end user. A marketplace is not an offtaker unless the contract is back-to-back.
Application: Who is buying the compute?
- Partly
Signed contract: share, price, firm term
An LOI or term sheet lets you apply; lenders fund on the signed contract.
Application: What are the contract terms?
- Still need
How the customer’s payments are secured
Bring the deposit or prepayment, billing in advance, or a guarantee.
Application: How is the offtaker's payment secured?
- Still need
Proof the customer can pay
The customer’s funding raised, cash, monthly burn and revenue.
Application: What are the offtaker's financials?
Asset and site
- Partly
What you are buying, from a quote
The plan has the bill of materials at ballpark prices ($9.72M); lenders want the vendor’s quote or PO.
Application: What are you buying?
- Partly
Colocation agreement with confirmed power
No metro picked yet; 248.0 kW at $280/kW a month. A quote: lenders want the signed agreement and confirmed power.
Application: Where does it go?
- Still need
Dated schedule to first revenue
The plan assumes 3 months to first revenue; lenders want the dates from your vendor and colocation provider.
Application: What is the timeline?
Borrower
- Still need
Who owns engineering, operations and finance
Name who owns infrastructure engineering and finance. The application requires your website and leadership’s LinkedIn profiles.
Application: Who is on the team?
- Still need
Clusters you have run before
First cluster: lenders lean on the team’s past deployments elsewhere. List them, with uptime.
Application: What have you deployed before?
- Still need
Company, funding and financials
Funding raised and financial statements (CPA-reviewed if you have them).
Application: What are your company's financials?
Financing
- Still need
The borrowing entity
Which company or SPV signs the loan, and any guarantor.
Application: Who is the borrower?
- Have
What the loan buys and how much
$4.86M toward $9.72M of hardware.
Application: What does the money buy?
- Partly
Your cash in, 30%+ of the cost
$4.86M in the plan; bring a bank statement showing it.
Application: What cash are you putting in, beyond the offtaker's deposit?
- Still need
Existing loans and liens
List any loans you have; lenders take the GPUs and the contract as security.
Application: If the loan isn't repaid, what can the lender take? And what loans do you already have?
- Have
The terms you want
50% loan over 48 months at about 12%.
Application: Preferred terms
Lenders will also ask
- Still need
Property insurance on the GPUs
Lenders require property insurance on the collateral before funding.
What would help most
- 1.Turn the LOI into a signed take-or-pay contract. A fixed monthly fee whether the GPUs are used or not, for the full term, assignable to the lender’s SPV.
- 2.Get 20% of the contract paid up front, or a letter of credit. Microsoft prepays IREN 20% of each tranche before delivery. A deposit or LC is cash the lender can count on day one.
- 3.Hold six months of costs and debt service in cash. Loan proceeds pay for hardware only. Interest, rent and power before first revenue come from your cash.
- 4.Bind all-risk property insurance with the lender as loss payee. Replacement-cost cover scheduled line by line from the BOM, plus transit. Lenders make it a condition of funding.
Take it to investors and lenders
A 10-slide lender deck of this plan, ready to print to PDF, and the full model as an Excel file with live formulas.
Ten 16:9 slides; print them to PDF from the deck page.
Illustrative, not a quote or an offer of financing. Ballpark prices as of October 2026, before taxes.
What it costs to start a neocloud, by size
B300 servers at October 2026 ballpark prices, with networking (two or more servers) and shipping. Cash at closing is the 50% equity, the 2% fee and 3 months of debt service reserve on a 50% loan at 12%. Revenue is the first full month with every GPU under contract at $4.60. Staff is left out: it doesn’t scale with servers.
| GPUs | Servers | Hardware, all in | Power | Cash at closing | Revenue a month | Colocation a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 1 | $553K | 16 kW | $304K | $27K | $4.3K |
| 64 | 8 | $4.86M | 124 kW | $2.67M | $215K | $35K |
| 576 | 72 | $43.7M | 1.1 MW | $24.0M | $1.93M | $312K |
| 4,096 | 512 | $311.0M | 7.9 MW | $170.9M | $13.8M | $2.22M |
Server, networking and shipping ballparks from vendor quotes (October 2026); colocation at $280 per kW a month all in, 15.5 kW a server.
Neocloud margins, by share under contract
One 16-server B300 cluster in its first full month at our defaults, with $89K a month of staff, insurance, software and other costs. EBITDA is revenue less colocation, staff and other running costs; interest and depreciation come after it. Short-term rates are high today and may not last, which is why lenders count the contract.
| Under contract | Revenue a month | EBITDA a month | EBITDA margin | DSCR | DSCR, contract only |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0% | $561K | $402K | 72% | 3.14x | n/a |
| 50% | $495K | $337K | 68% | 2.63x | 0.44x |
| 70% | $469K | $310K | 66% | 2.42x | 1.12x |
| 100% | $430K | $271K | 63% | 2.12x | 2.12x |
Modeled unit economics for one cluster, not reported company margins.
How to finance a $5 million GPU cluster
The most servers $5 million buys all in, on each GPU, with 50% cash in and a 50% loan at 12% repaid over 48 months, every GPU on a take-or-pay contract. Open the B300 example in the builder.
| B300 | B200 | H200 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Servers (GPUs) | 8 (64) | 9 (72) | 13 (104) |
| Hardware, all in | $4.86M | $4.66M | $4.91M |
| Your cash in | $2.43M | $2.33M | $2.45M |
| Loan | $2.43M | $2.33M | $2.45M |
| Loan payment a month | $64K | $61K | $65K |
| Cash before first revenue | $3.23M | $3.11M | $3.26M |
| EBITDA a month | $93K | $88K | $122K |
| DSCR (contract only) | 1.45x (1.45x) | 1.43x (1.43x) | 1.89x (1.89x) |
Lenders size on contract revenue: 1.20x to 1.50x coverage depending on the customer.
How to start a neocloud: the steps
01
Size the cluster
Pick the GPU and the server count. Hardware is most of the cost: B300 servers run $550-650K each, networking $50-70K a server (October 2026).
02
Find GPU-ready colocation
Liquid cooling or 30 kW+ racks, with confirmed power. A B300 server draws about 15.5 kW; all-in colocation runs $240-325 per kW a month. GPU-ready sites by metro
03
Sign customers
A take-or-pay contract on 60-70% of the GPUs for as long as the loan, from a customer who can pay. Sell the rest on demand.
04
Build the team
Infrastructure engineers to rack, cable and bring up the servers; a platform engineer for the software customers use; sales; and someone on finance and vendors.
05
Finance the hardware
30% in cash with a contract (50% without), a loan for the rest repaid over the contract term, and the checklist lenders work from. What lenders ask for
06
Deliver and bill
Order, ship, rack, burn in, then bill the first GPU-hour: about 3 months from closing, during which you pay colocation, staff and the loan.
What goes in a GPU cluster business plan
The deck the builder prints, slide by slide: the outline lenders and investors read, with every number from your plan. See it on the default plan.
- Cover. The company, the cluster, the site and the date.
- The opportunity. What the GPUs rent for in the public market, and what the cluster earns a year.
- Customers and offtake. The contract (share, price, firm term, value), the customer, and the on-demand plan.
- The cluster and the site. Bill of materials, power, the metro and its GPU-ready colocation.
- Unit economics. One month of revenue, costs and debt service, margin and cost per GPU-hour.
- The financing ask. Loan, equity, rate and term, with sources and uses.
- Coverage and the downside case. DSCR by year against the lender minimum; the downside and contract-only cases.
- Returns and resale. Payback, equity IRR, and what the servers are worth when the loan ends.
- Team. Who owns engineering, platform, sales and finance, and the operating history.
- Next steps. What is in hand, what is still needed, and the timeline to first revenue.
Starting a neocloud: questions
- How do I start a neocloud?
- Pick the GPUs and how many, lease GPU-ready colocation with confirmed power, line up customers (lenders want 60-70% of the GPUs under a take-or-pay contract), hire infrastructure engineering, sales and finance, then finance the hardware: 30% or more of it in cash (about 50% against an early-stage customer) and a loan for the rest, repaid over the contract. From closing to first revenue takes about 3 months for delivery, racking and burn-in. The builder above walks through each step with our prices.
- How much does it cost to start a GPU cloud business?
- At October 2026 ballpark prices, one B300 server (8 GPUs) is about $553K; 64 GPUs about $4.86M with networking and shipping; 576 GPUs about $43.7M. With a 50% loan, a 16-server cluster needs about $6.20M of cash before the first invoice: the equity, the closing fee, a 3-month debt service reserve and 3 months of colocation, staff and loan payments.
- How do I write a GPU cluster business plan?
- Lenders and investors read the same ten things: the opportunity, the customers and the contract, the cluster and the site, unit economics, the financing ask with sources and uses, DSCR and a downside case, returns and resale at the end of the loan, the team, and what is still needed. The builder fills every number from your inputs, prints a 10-slide deck and emails the Excel model.
- What are neocloud profit margins?
- For one 16-server B300 cluster at our defaults, EBITDA (revenue less colocation, staff and other running costs) is 63% of revenue with every GPU under contract, 66% with 70% under contract and 72% all on demand at today's short-term prices. Interest and depreciation come after that. These are modeled unit economics for one cluster, not a company's reported margins.
- How do I finance a $5 million GPU cluster?
- $5 million buys about 8 B300 servers (64 GPUs, $4.86M all in). Against an early-stage customer, lenders want about 50% in cash ($2.43M), lend the other $2.43M, and repay it over the customer's contract: at 12% over 48 months that is $64K a month. They size the loan on contract revenue, wanting 1.20x to 1.50x coverage depending on the customer.
- What if my loan runs longer than my customer contract?
- Lenders repay the loan over the firm contract, so the balance left when it ends is the risk. Residual value insurance (RVI) can backstop it: it pays the shortfall if the servers sell below an insured value when the loan ends. In the builder it insures up to 50% of the servers' expected resale value, for an illustrative premium of 10-15% of the insured value, financed with the hardware. It works when the contract covers most of the loan: on the default plan with a 36-month loan and a 24-month contract, $1.41M is left when the contract ends and RVI insures $1.47M. We can help you source RVI and get it structured.
How the builder works
The plan is the neocloud business plan model: month 0 is closing (equity, fee and reserve in), a level loan payment from month 1, colocation and staff from month 1 and revenue after the ramp. Contracted GPUs bill every hour for the contract term, then sell on demand; on-demand GPUs bill a share of hours at a price that falls each year. EBITDA is revenue less colocation and staff; DSCR is EBITDA over the loan payment. The downside case cuts the on-demand price 30% and hours billed by 20 points; “contract only” drops on-demand revenue, as lenders do when they size the loan. Lender minimum DSCR and advance rates by customer come from the Neocloud Credit Score; loan rates from public GPU deals (October 10, 2026).
Hardware, networking, power and contract presets are ballparks from vendor quotes and rental deals (October 2026). GPU-ready colocation is our colocation directory: facilities with liquid cooling, 30 kW or more per rack, or marketed for GPU or AI use, each from a public source. Per-kW prices are CBRE and Colliers surveys, rate cards and planning ranges from colocation pricing. On-demand list prices are from providers’ public pricing pages, checked October 17, 2026. Resale at the end of the loan uses the conservative and moderate bands in GPU Residual Value: Underwriting a $3 Trillion Opportunity (June 2026). The readiness checklist is the financing application’s own list of items on financing.amcompute.com.
Residual value insurance, when on, insures 50% of the servers’ expected resale value at the end of the loan (the middle of the conservative band); the premium is modeled at 15% of the insured value, the top of an illustrative 10-15% range (October 2026), and financed with the hardware. Lenders test coverage on contract revenue while the contract runs; a loan that runs past it passes only when the insured value covers the balance left when the contract ends. On the default plan with a 36-month loan and a 24-month contract, contract-only DSCR is 1.64x and $1.41M is left at month 27: a fail without RVI, covered with $1.47M insured.
Updated October 17, 2026. Illustrative, not a quote or an offer of financing; before taxes. Financing comes from American Compute’s lending partners, who make every credit decision.