What changed
Anthropic, an AI company that has generally avoided buying physical infrastructure, is spending $3.4 billion on natural gas turbines. The company is acquiring Caterpillar generators capable of producing up to 1.7 gigawatts of electricity. This purchase comes after the company had planned to buy them from OnePWR, which had originally ordered the turbines but could not secure financing.
What this means in practice
The move indicates that Anthropic is prioritizing securing its own power supply to avoid reliance on an uncertain market for computing power. The company has also disclosed paying $1.25 billion per month to xAI for computing resources, and it expects to enter into additional similar contracts. The purchase is seen as a last resort due to the long backlog for natural gas turbines and grid connection delays.
Limitations and availability
The purchase highlights the growing demand for natural gas infrastructure among AI companies, with Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta also planning to build on-site power plants. This trend has revitalized fracking and could lead to U.S. data centers consuming more natural gas than Germany and Japan combined by 2035. However, the reliance on natural gas exposes hyperscalers to price fluctuations, with some analysts predicting prices could triple by the end of the decade.
