Anthropic's need for power has grown so pressing that the company—which has typically steered clear of owning physical infrastructure—is now shelling out $3.4 billion on natural gas turbines. According to a Financial Times report, the AI firm, which intends to go public this year, is acquiring Caterpillar generators that equipment supplier OnePWR had originally ordered. These generators can produce as much as 1.7 gigawatts of electricity.

Anthropic has historically favored renting over buying. In its S-1 filing in May, the company revealed it is paying SpaceX subsidiary xAI $1.25 billion per month through May 2029 to tap into xAI's computing power. "We expect to enter into additional similar services contracts," Anthropic noted in the filing—signaling more deals to rent compute capacity. Yet with demand for compute climbing steeply, the power market has grown increasingly unpredictable, which may have left the company with little choice. The waitlist for natural gas turbines now extends into the early 2030s, and queues for grid connections can be just as lengthy.

Anthropic's purchase appears to be a last resort. Per the report, OnePWR ordered the turbines a couple of years back but couldn't secure financing to complete the transaction. Anthropic had intended to buy them from OnePWR but wound up going straight to Caterpillar, the manufacturer. It remains unclear why OnePWR failed to obtain financing despite Anthropic's apparent interest as a buyer. Regardless, Anthropic likely wanted to keep the generating capacity for itself rather than let a competitor swoop in and grab it.

In recent years, AI companies have been steadily increasing their purchases of natural gas equipment and supplies. Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta have each announced plans to construct massive natural gas power plants to supply their data centers on site, rather than pulling from the public grid. This spending spree has revived fracking, the drilling technique used to extract natural gas from underground rock. And if the buildout unfolds as planned, U.S. data centers alone could consume more natural gas than Germany and Japan combined by 2035.

This reliance on natural gas also leaves hyperscalers vulnerable to price swings. One analyst anticipates prices could more than triple by the end of the decade in certain markets. Should that happen, Anthropic might find itself with a serious case of buyer's remorse.