Looking for power for data centers, Anthropic is taking a heavy shot this time.
In late September it signed a $3.4 billion deal with OnePWR Solutions, an equipment maker in San Antonio, Texas, to secure purchase commitments for 1.7 gigawatts of gas-fired heavy-duty generating units, packaged with the engineering and construction capabilities needed to install them.
1.7 What is the concept of gigawatt? Roughly equivalent to the installed capacity of a large nuclear power plant. This is the largest single purchase of power generation equipment for AI Labs based on currently known public transactions.
The details of the deal are interesting. OnePWR had already placed an order for generators with Caterpillar but lacked the money to complete the deal. At first, Anthropic only planned to buy goods as a customer, but in the end, it simply took over the entire order from Caterpillar. OnePWR was not acquired, and its employees were not transferred.
The direct benefit of doing this is to jump in line. Gas turbines and heavy-duty generators are currently in short supply around the world, and the normal waiting time is several years. Taking over existing orders means skipping the longest period of waiting.
Last week, OpenAI just promised to pay all the electricity bills for its self-built campus and not let residents share it. Now Anthropic simply generates its own electricity. The competition among head model companies increasingly comes down to electricity and the ground.