The deal
Anthropic has purchased natural gas turbines worth $3.4 billion, according to TechCrunch, citing a Financial Times article. They are Caterpillar generators that equipment supplier OnePWR had ordered earlier and, according to the report, had been unable to finance. The stated generation capacity is up to 1.7 gigawatts of electricity.
The company, which according to the source plans to go public this year, reportedly initially planned to buy the turbines from OnePWR and then turn directly to manufacturer Caterpillar. TechCrunch does not clarify why OnePWR did not obtain financing despite Anthropic's interest as a customer. The newspaper notes that the company probably wanted to keep the generation capacity for itself, preventing a competitor from seizing it.
From leasing to buying
The deal marks a change from Anthropic's historical strategy, which according to TechCrunch has generally avoided buying physical infrastructure and preferred to lease it. In its May S-1 filing, the company said it pays $1.25 billion per month to SpaceX subsidiary xAI to use its computing power until May 2029, and added that it expects other similar contracts for leasing computing capacity.
The shift to direct purchasing was reportedly driven by pressure from demand for computing and uncertainty in the energy market. According to the source, waiting lists for gas turbines extend into the early 2030s, and queues to connect to the power grid can be just as long. Against this backdrop, the purchase is described as a last-resort solution.
The industry context
Anthropic is not alone in this race. TechCrunch recalls that Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta have announced plans to build large natural gas plants intended to directly power their own data centers, rather than drawing electricity from the public grid. The increase in demand has given new impetus to fracking, the method of extracting gas from underground.
The newspaper cites the estimate that, if the expansion plan proceeds as expected, by 2035 U.S. data centers alone could consume more natural gas than Germany and Japan combined. However, dependence on gas exposes major tech companies to price fluctuations: one analyst expects prices in some markets could more than triple by the end of the decade, a scenario that according to TechCrunch could cause Anthropic deep regret over the purchase.
