Anthropic spends $3.4B on natural gas turbines
Original: Anthropic joins AI’s natural gas frenzy, buys $3.4B worth of turbines
Why This Matters
AI's energy appetite is forcing even software-first companies into heavy capital infrastructure bets.
Anthropic is purchasing $3.4B in Caterpillar natural gas turbines capable of producing 1.7 GW of electricity, bypassing supplier OnePWR to buy directly from the manufacturer amid surging AI power demand.
Anthropic, which has historically preferred renting compute infrastructure over owning it, is making a sharp pivot. The company is acquiring natural gas turbines originally ordered by equipment supplier OnePWR directly from manufacturer Caterpillar, in a deal worth $3.4 billion, per a Financial Times report. The turbines can generate up to 1.7 gigawatts. The move stands in contrast to Anthropic's disclosed strategy in its May S-1 filing, where it revealed it pays SpaceX subsidiary xAI $1.25 billion per month through May 2029 for compute access — with plans for more similar rental deals. OnePWR had placed the original turbine order years ago but failed to secure financing to complete it, even with Anthropic as a prospective customer. Rather than wait, Anthropic went straight to Caterpillar — reportedly to prevent a competitor from acquiring the capacity. The broader context: backlog for natural gas turbines now stretches into the early 2030s, and grid interconnection queues are equally long. Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta have all announced on-site natural gas power plants for their data centers. Analysts warn natural gas prices could more than triple in some markets by decade's end — a risk Anthropic is now directly exposed to.