Computing power shortage intensifies? Musk: SpaceX only leases computing power to Anthropic for half a year, may withdraw during peak demand.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Thursday that SpaceX has only agreed to lease the Colossus AI training data center cluster to Anthropic for six months, but he added that the agreement "could" be extended for several years. Musk stated, "SpaceX has not committed to leasing Colossus for multiple years, although that scenario is indeed possible." Earlier this month, Anthropic reached an agreement with xAI (now acquired by SpaceX and renamed SpaceXAI), owned by Musk, to purchase 300 megawatts of computing power. According to the agreement, Anthropic will pay xAI $1.25 billion monthly from the signing date until May 2029 to use the computing capacities of the Colossus and Colossus II data center clusters located in Memphis, Tennessee. This deal is expected to generate over $40 billion in revenue for xAI. SpaceX stated in regulatory filings last week that either party can terminate the agreement by giving 90 days' notice. The filing did not mention the six-month leasing agreement. Despite the ongoing boom in AI data center construction, the continuous growth in demand has led to a shortage of computing power. The cooperation agreement between Anthropic and SpaceX is the company's latest move to source computing resources to meet demand. It was reported earlier that Anthropic has committed to pay around $200 billion to Alphabet Inc. Class C over the next five years for cloud computing expenses related to training and deploying Claude. This investment reflects multiple agreements previously reached between Anthropic and Alphabet Inc. Class C. Last October, Anthropic announced an expansion of its use of Alphabet Inc. Class C's cloud TPUs, which will provide Anthropic with over 1 gigawatt of computing power set to be deployed this year. Last month, Anthropic reached a new cooperation agreement with Alphabet Inc. Class C and Broadcom Inc. to access approximately 3.5 gigawatts of TPU computing power resources, expected to go online starting in 2027. However, Musk explained that the agreement is a 180-day lease contract, and both parties can terminate it with a 90-day notice period. Musk stated on social media, "The short-term leasing term was our proposal, not from Anthropic." "We will not leave them in a lurch and will provide a reasonable exit plan, but if computing resources become extremely scarce, I have said that we may need to reclaim these resources at some point." SpaceX's leasing of computing power to Anthropic is seen as an extension of the company's role as a "computing services provider" and helps alleviate the high costs associated with data center construction and operation. According to IPO filings, SpaceX's AI division generated revenue of $818 million in the quarter ending in March, but operated at a loss of approximately $2.5 billion. Musk previously stated on social media last week that SpaceX is in talks with other companies for similar service collaborations to commercialize AI computing services. Musk also mentioned that as the development of in-orbit data centers progresses, SpaceX will have the capability to provide large-scale AI services in the future, expanding the boundaries of business partnerships and supporting the development of the AI industry's computing power infrastructure.