Anthropic skips six-year waitlist with massive $3.4 billion gas turbine generator deal

Anthropic, the AI company behind Claude, has agreed to spend $3.4 billion securing 1.7 gigawatts (GW) of gas-fired generators for its AI data centres, taking over equipment orders originally placed with Caterpillar by Texas-based supplier OnePWR Solutions. According to Reuters, the agreement was reached in late September, and also covers the engineering and construction work needed to install the equipment. Anthropic is not buying OnePWR itself. Instead, it is taking over the supplier's existing generator commitments, which were placed roughly two years ago but required additional financing. By taking over the existing orders, Anthropic avoids having to start from scratch and wait for Caterpillar to find another larger order into its production schedule. That timing matters too, as larger orders for large gas turbines and generators are piling up, and manufacturers are struggling to keep up with demand, especially from AI companies.

Notably, global turbine orders have reportedly exceeded 100GW, while manufacturing capacity stands at an estimated 60GW to 70GW. Average delivery times in the U.S. have reached six years, with some prospective orders extending into 2030 or 2031.

The latest purchase puts Anthropic increasingly in familiar territory. Elon Musk’s AI has already turned to gas-powered generation to bring its large computing facilities online without waiting for conventional grid connections. Recently, xAI installed eight converted General Electric jet turbines at a data center in Mississippi. Each unit can generate up to 50MW, giving the installation a potential combined output of 400MW. The deployment has also attracted environmental scrutiny, with the Southern Environmental Law Center challenging the site's emissions permits.

The environmental implications of relying on gas-fired generators have also attracted criticism. “This is pretty grim—these kinds of generators are terrible for the environment.” Shakeel Hashim, founder of ReadTransformer, tweeted, commenting on Anthropic's purchase. His reaction points to an issue Anthropic will have to contend with as it expands its power infrastructure: securing electricity quickly does not remove the environmental costs of generating it.

Musk's companies have been moving further into the equipment business, too. In August, it emerged that the company was bringing turbine-blade and vine manufacturing in-house, with Musk identifying components production as a major constraint on generator deliveries, with some turbine blades reportedly taking between 60 and 90 weeks to be manufactured. Earlier, in July, SpaceX also acquired APR Energy, a company with a fleet of trailer -mounted gas and diesel generators capable of producing more than 1GW.

The approach is not exclusive to Musk's businesses. OpenAI has followed a similar route for its first Stargate data center in Abilene, Texas. In July, we reported that Crusoe, the company developing the facility, had acquired 29GE Vernova LM2500XPRESS gas turbines, each rated at 34MW. Together, the 29 turbines could generate up to 986 MW. Anthropic is taking a different path, though, by stepping into OnePWR’s existing Caterpillar orders, securing generators that were already in use, rather than buying new equipment.

That said, the power shortage is forcing AI companies to look beyond new generator orders. There has been an upsurge in demand for used and refurbished turbines, including retired jet engines converted to generate electricity. But even those alternatives have limitations, including maintenance requirements, remaining service life and suitability for continuous operations. For Anthropic, however, taking over OnePWR’s Caterpillar orders could provide a way around some of those hurdles. The agreement also provides installation capabilities, meaning the company is securing more than the generators themselves.

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