Compute & Cloud
Anthropic spends $3.4 billion on natural gas turbines
Anthropic is spending $3.4 billion on Caterpillar natural gas turbines capable of generating up to 1.7 gigawatts, a shift from its usual preference to rent computing power.
According to a Financial Times report, Anthropic is committing $3.4 billion to natural gas turbines — a striking move for a company that has generally avoided owning physical infrastructure. The AI company — on track to go public this year — is now acquiring Caterpillar generators that parts supplier OnePWR had placed the original order for; each unit can produce up to 1.7 gigawatts of electricity.
The deal breaks from Anthropic’s usual preference to rent rather than own compute and power capacity. Its S-1 filing, disclosed in May, said the company is paying SpaceX subsidiary xAI $1.25 billion a month through May 2029 for computing power, adding, “We expect to enter into additional similar services contracts.” But as compute demand climbs, the power market has grown uncertain enough that it may have forced Anthropic’s hand: the turbine backlog now stretches into the early 2030s, and grid-connection queues can run just as long.
According to the report, OnePWR had ordered the turbines a couple of years ago but couldn’t secure financing to complete the purchase; Anthropic, which had planned to buy them from OnePWR, instead went directly to manufacturer Caterpillar. Why OnePWR’s financing fell through despite Anthropic’s apparent interest as a customer isn’t clear, but Anthropic likely wanted to keep the capacity for itself rather than let a competitor snap it up.
The move fits a wider pattern: AI companies have ramped up natural gas purchases in recent years, with Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta all announcing on-site natural gas power plants for their data centers rather than drawing from the public grid, a buildout that has also given new momentum to fracking. Should that buildout go ahead on schedule, the natural gas burned by US data centers alone could exceed the combined consumption of Germany and Japan by 2035 — an exposure that cuts both ways, since one analyst expects gas prices could more than triple by decade’s end in some markets, which would leave Anthropic, if it happens, with a serious case of buyer’s remorse.
Why it matters
The purchase shows how tight power supply has become for frontier AI labs that Anthropic, built on renting compute, is now buying physical generation outright. That exposes the company more directly to the natural gas price swings already facing hyperscalers building their own on-site power plants.