AI’s power crunch has become so acute that Anthropic, a company that has generally avoided buying physical infrastructure, is spending $3.4 billion on natural gas turbines.
The AI company, which is planning to go public this year, is buying Caterpillar generators that equipment supplier OnePWR had originally ordered, according to a Financial Times report. The generators are capable of producing up to 1.7 gigawatts of electricity.
Historically, Anthropic has preferred to rent rather than buy. The company disclosed in its S-1 filing in May that it is paying SpaceX subsidiary xAI $1.25 billion per month through May 2029 to use xAI’s computing power.
“We expect to enter into additional similar services contracts,” Anthropic stated in the filing, meaning more deals to rent computing power.
But as demand for compute ramps up, the market for power has also grown increasingly uncertain, which may have forced its hand. The backlog for natural gas turbines stretches into the early 2030s, and queues to connect to the electrical grid can be just as long.
Anthropic’s purchase looks like a last resort.
According to the report, OnePWR ordered the turbines a couple years ago, but couldn’t find financing to complete the purchase. Anthropic had planned to buy them from OnePWR but instead went directly to Caterpillar, the manufacturer.
It’s not clear why OnePWR was unable to secure financing despite Anthropic’s apparent interest as a customer. Whatever the case, Anthropic likely wanted to keep the generating capacity to itself rather than give a competitor an opportunity to snap it up.
AI companies have been ramping up their purchases of natural gas equipment and supplies in recent years. Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta have all announced plans to build massive natural gas power plants to power their data centers on site, rather than drawing from the public grid.
The binge has given a second wind to fracking, the drilling method used to extract natural gas from underground rock. And if the buildout proceeds as planned, U.S. data centers alone could consume more natural gas than Germany and Japan combined by 2035. The reliance on natural gas also exposes hyperscalers to price fluctuations. One analyst expects that prices could more than triple by the end of the decade in some markets. If that happens, Anthropic might have a serious case of buyer’s remorse.
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Tim De Chant is a senior climate reporter at TechCrunch. He has written for a wide range of publications, including Wired magazine, the Chicago Tribune, Ars Technica, The Wire China, and NOVA Next, where he was founding editor.
De Chant is also a lecturer in MIT’s Graduate Program in Science Writing, and he was awarded a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT in 2018, during which time he studied climate technologies and explored new business models for journalism. He received his PhD in environmental science, policy, and management from the University of California, Berkeley, and his BA degree in environmental studies, English, and biology from St. Olaf College.
You can contact or verify outreach from Tim by emailing [email protected].
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