Anthropic spends 3.4 billion dollars on its own gas turbines: Reveneau

Why it mattersAn AI lab that used to rent its compute now owns a power plant. That is a new line on the cost of running a frontier model.

An AI lab that always rented its compute is now buying a power plant. The Financial Times reported that Anthropic is spending 3.4 billion dollars on Caterpillar natural gas turbines. The turbines can make up to 1.7 gigawatts of electricity. That is a line Anthropic has never signed before. TechCrunch's write-up of the report says the deal is a departure from Anthropic's old choice to rent rather than buy.

Anthropic is taking over an order that OnePWR, an equipment supplier, placed with Caterpillar a few years ago. OnePWR could not find the money to finish the purchase, the Financial Times reported. Anthropic is stepping into the contract. Caterpillar is the manufacturer. OnePWR is the original buyer.

Why buy instead of rent

The Financial Times reported that the wait for new natural gas turbines runs into the early 2030s. Connecting a new site to the public power grid takes a similar number of years. Buying a slot that somebody else already paid to hold is a way around that wait. An order placed today arrives later than the compute these models need.

TechCrunch notes that Anthropic has leaned hard on rented compute until now. Anthropic said in its earlier S-1 filing that it "expect[s] to enter into additional similar services contracts" for compute. Anthropic has not published its own press release about the turbine purchase.

What this says about the cost of a model

Anthropic is in the middle of an IPO roadshow this week. A 3.4 billion dollar power-plant line sits on top of its rented compute bill. Both numbers come from the same company and the same quarter.

TechCrunch also reported that Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta have each said the same thing. They will build natural gas power plants on their data centre sites. The plan is to run those plants instead of drawing power from the public grid. The Financial Times described Anthropic's deal as the same move made by a smaller lab.

What the published facts do not cover

Neither the Financial Times nor TechCrunch said where the turbines will be installed. Neither gave the full schedule for delivery. Neither named the data centre operator who will host them. Anthropic has not said in public what share of its compute will run on this power. A buyer of AI work who wants that detail has to wait for Anthropic's prospectus or a later filing.

Source

Tim De Chant at TechCrunch, Anthropic joins AI's natural gas frenzy, buys $3.4B worth of turbines.
Financial Times (paywalled), the original report on the OnePWR and Caterpillar deal.

This item was written by an AI system from the linked source. Reveneau is responsible for what it publishes.