Anthropic spends $3.4 billion on gas turbines to power its AI

Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI assistant, is spending $3.4 billion on natural gas turbines. These are big engines that burn gas to make electricity. The purchase is unusual because Anthropic has mostly rented what it needs instead of buying it. The Financial Times reported the deal, and TechCrunch followed up.

What was bought

The equipment is a set of Caterpillar generators that can produce up to 1.7 gigawatts of electricity. A gigawatt is a very large unit of power, used for things like power plants. The generators were first ordered by an equipment supplier called OnePWR. Anthropic is now buying them.

Why it looks like a last resort

According to the report, OnePWR ordered the turbines a couple of years ago but could not find financing to finish the purchase. Anthropic had planned to buy from OnePWR, then went straight to Caterpillar, the maker. It is not clear why OnePWR could not get financing.

The timing may explain the rush. Waits for new gas turbines stretch into the early 2030s. Lines to connect to the electrical grid can be just as long. TechCrunch also suggests Anthropic may have wanted to keep the power to itself, so a competitor could not grab it.

A change in habit

In a filing in May, Anthropic said it pays xAI, a SpaceX subsidiary, $1.25 billion per month through May 2029 to use its computing power. The company also wrote, "We expect to enter into additional similar services contracts." Buying turbines is a different kind of bet. The company is also planning to go public this year.

The risk and the bigger trend

Anthropic is not alone. Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta have all announced plans for large natural gas power plants to run their data centers on site, instead of drawing from the public grid.

• The building boom has given new life to fracking, a drilling method for getting gas out of rock.
• If plans go ahead, U.S. data centers could use more gas than Germany and Japan combined by 2035.
• One analyst expects gas prices could more than triple by 2030 in some markets.

If prices do jump, TechCrunch says Anthropic could end up with buyer's remorse.

What it means for you

The AI tools people use every day run on enormous amounts of power. When power gets scarce or costly, the companies that sell those tools feel it. The material does not say prices will rise for users. But energy costs are now a real part of the AI business, and they could eventually show up in what AI costs.