Anthropic, the company behind the Claude family of AI models, is reportedly spending $3.4 billion on natural gas turbines to power its AI infrastructure, a striking change of direction for a company that has historically preferred to rent computing power rather than own it.
According to a Financial Times report covered by TechCrunch, Anthropic is buying Caterpillar generators originally ordered by equipment supplier OnePWR. The generators can produce up to 1.7 gigawatts of electricity. OnePWR placed the order about two years ago but could not secure the financing to complete the purchase, and Anthropic ultimately went directly to the manufacturer instead of buying through the supplier.
The move underlines how tight the market for AI power has become. Backlogs for natural gas turbines now stretch into the early 2030s, and queues to connect new data centres to the grid can be just as long. Anthropic disclosed in its stock market filing in May that it pays xAI, a SpaceX subsidiary, $1.25 billion a month through May 2029 for computing power, and it has signalled it expects to sign more such rental deals.
Anthropic is not alone in turning to gas. Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta have all announced plans for large on-site gas power plants for their data centres. Forecasts cited in the report suggest US data centres alone could consume more natural gas than Germany and Japan combined by 2035. One analyst expects gas prices could more than triple in some markets by the end of the decade, which would make the purchase an expensive hedge if that forecast proves right. Neither the installation sites nor a delivery schedule have been disclosed.
For a closer look at the models at the centre of this power race, see our pages on Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini.
Source: TechCrunch
