Anthropic joins AI’s natural gas frenzy, buys $3.4B worth of turbines
Anthropic bought billions of dollars worth of natural gas turbines in a deal that could give it buyer's remorse.
TL;DR
- Anthropic is purchasing $3.4 billion worth of natural gas turbines, a move away from its typical practice of renting infrastructure.
- The AI company is acquiring Caterpillar generators originally ordered by OnePWR, capable of producing 1.7 gigawatts of electricity.
- This investment is driven by the acute power crunch impacting AI development and the increasing uncertainty in the power market, including long backlogs for turbines and grid connections.
- Other major AI companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta are also investing in on-site natural gas power plants for their data centers.
- The increased demand for natural gas equipment could significantly boost fracking and lead to substantial U.S. data center natural gas consumption, with potential for price hikes.
- Anthropic had previously disclosed a $1.25 billion per month contract with SpaceX subsidiary xAI for computing power and expected to enter similar rental agreements.