Anthropic to buy $3.4 billion in Caterpillar gas turbines

The purchase marks a shift for Anthropic, which has generally rented rather than owned infrastructure. In a May S-1 filing, the company said it pays SpaceX subsidiary xAI $1.25 billion per month through May 2029 for computing power. Anthropic also said it expected to enter into similar service contracts.

But securing enough electricity and computing capacity has become harder. Natural gas turbine orders are backlogged into the early 2030s, while waits to connect to the electrical grid can also stretch for years. The article characterizes Anthropic’s purchase as a last resort.

According to the Financial Times, OnePWR ordered the turbines a couple of years ago but could not find financing to complete the purchase. Anthropic had planned to buy them from OnePWR, then went directly to Caterpillar. The reason OnePWR could not secure financing despite Anthropic’s apparent interest as a customer is unclear. The report suggests Anthropic may have wanted to keep the capacity from being bought by a competitor.

Other major technology companies are also pursuing gas-fired power for data centers. Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta have announced plans for large on-site natural gas plants rather than relying on the public grid. The expansion has revived fracking, the method used to extract gas from underground rock. If planned projects proceed, U.S. data centers alone could use more natural gas than Germany and Japan combined by 2035. The shift could also leave companies exposed to fuel costs: one analyst expects prices in some markets to more than triple by the end of the decade.