Anthropic agreed to pay SpaceX $45 billion (about 67.5 trillion won) over the next three years in return for renting xAI's computing resources. To support the stable operation of the artificial intelligence (AI) model "Claude," it will pay a competitor about $1.25 billion (about 1.87 trillion won) every month.
Previously, Anthropic signed a contract to use the computing capacity of the "Colossus 1" data center in Memphis, Tennessee, owned by xAI, the AI subsidiary of SpaceX led by Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk. To secure computing infrastructure that had fallen short due to a surge in demand for Claude, it joined hands with a competitor. Through this, Anthropic secured 300 MW (megawatts) of computing capacity, including more than 220,000 Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs).
According to Bloomberg and other major foreign media on the 20th (local time), details of the transaction between the two were disclosed through a securities registration statement SpaceX recently filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to the filing, Anthropic is to pay SpaceX $1.25 billion every month through May 2029. However, discounted rates apply in May and June, the first two months as xAI completes expansion of the data center.
From the perspective of xAI, which is burning through massive cash, the data center lease with Anthropic is expected to become a major source of revenue. SpaceX said the deal "allows us to monetize idle computing capacity within our infrastructure." It added, "We expect to enter into additional similar service contracts in the future." xAI posted an operating loss of $6.4 billion (about 9.5 trillion won) last year, with the deficit tripling from the previous year ($1.56 billion). Revenue rose 22.1% over the same period, from $2.62 billion to $3.2 billion, but expenses grew faster than revenue.
TechCrunch said, "xAI has adopted an unusual 'hybrid' strategy in the AI market," noting, "AI corporations typically choose either to build data centers themselves to run their services or to operate a cloud business that provides infrastructure to others, and it is rare to perform both roles at the same time."
SpaceX described this as a "dual monetization strategy," explaining that it "provides multiple avenues to generate revenue through efficient resource utilization."
However, some suggest that xAI built more computing infrastructure than actual demand and hurried to find ways to monetize it ahead of a large initial public offering (IPO). As usage of xAI's AI chatbot Grok has declined in recent months, the analysis goes, surplus server resources have been leased to competitor Anthropic.