The American company behind the AI assistant Claude has taken on $3,4 billion in orders for natural gas-powered generators to fuel its artificial intelligence infrastructure. This accelerated strategy raises environmental concerns and could face political obstacles.
To power its data centers, Anthropic opted for a fast track: acquiring orders for natural gas generators already placed by a Texas-based company, OnePWR Solutions, with manufacturer Caterpillar. The agreement, totaling $3,4 billion (approximately €3 billion), covers not only the purchase of the equipment but also the associated engineering and construction services. These generators represent a combined capacity of 1,7 gigawatts.
The rationale behind this move is primarily industrial. Manufacturing new, high-capacity generators takes several years and involves considerable regulatory and logistical constraints. By taking over pre-existing orders, Anthropic avoids this delay and gains a valuable advantage in the race for computing power among major players in artificial intelligence. The locations for these generators are not yet known.
This choice of natural gas is not insignificant. The extraction and combustion of this fossil fuel have a significant environmental impact, and the growing demand from data centers for this resource risks driving up prices in certain regions, as Anthropic itself indicated in its IPO preparation documents. The company, which recently launched a public interest fund, thus finds itself in a delicate position with regard to its own stated commitments.
On the political front, the recent Democratic victory in the US midterm elections could complicate the company's plans. Several stocks linked to data center infrastructure fell in the wake of the election. According to Goldman Sachs analysts, this election result could temporarily slow nearly 45% of the projected increase in processing capacity in the United States , due in particular to more restrictive energy and environmental policies.
In total, Anthropic stated in its stock market filing that it had made financial commitments of around $895 billion for the purchase and lease of computing capacity and infrastructure, illustrating the scale of investment required for the development of large-scale generative artificial intelligence.
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