Anthropic Just Locked Up Every Megawatt Of Musk's Colossus 1 Data Center

A few months ago, Elon Musk called Anthropic "doomed" on X. This week, he handed them a data center.

Anthropic said Wednesday it had locked up the full output of SpaceX's Colossus 1 site in Memphis. That is the same plant Musk has been building for his own AI work. It now powers Claude.

From Public Feud To Compute Deal

Musk has spent the last year throwing punches at the firm. He said it "hates Western Civilization."

He asked if there was a "more hypocritical company" out there. He even said it was set to become "misanthropic," the reverse of its name.

Then he met with the team. In a post on X, Musk said he spent time with senior staff at the firm over the last week.

He came away surprised. "Everyone I met was highly competent and cared a great deal about doing the right thing," he wrote.

"No one set off my evil detector." That is an odd reset for two AI firms that go head to head.

It also lands during the most heated week of Musk's year. He just wrapped his time on the stand in the OpenAI suit in Oakland.

What Anthropic Gets

The headline number is 300 megawatts of compute. That is the rough power draw of a small U.S. city.

Here, all of that power is aimed at AI models. Anthropic says paid Claude Pro and Claude Max users will see better speed because of the deal.

The firm has been telling customers for weeks that demand has been straining its systems. Colossus 1 helps fix that without forcing the firm to build a new site from scratch.

The deal also covers joint interest in building "multiple gigawatts" of compute in space. SpaceX's launch arm is the only reason that line is anything but science fiction.

This is part of a buying spree. The firm just signed a huge deal with Amazon. It is also said to be raising new cash at a $900 billion price tag.

The Pentagon Fight Is Still On

While Musk is making peace, the firm's bigger fight is with the U.S. government. The Defense Department blacklisted it in March.

The Pentagon called the firm a supply chain risk. That came after talks broke down over how its models could be used.

The firm is now suing the Trump White House. The case is being heard in San Francisco and D.C.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has been cozying up to xAI's Grok. Other AI vendors are also gaining ground there.

If the Pentagon contract stays out of reach, the Claude pipeline has to carry the load. That is part of why the firm is locking up so much compute right now.

What To Watch

The Colossus 1 deal is more than a power contract. It is a sign the firm thinks the number of Claude users will keep climbing.

Adding 300 megawatts is not the kind of move a firm makes if it expects demand to flatten out. The firm is betting that paid users keep growing into next year and beyond.

It is also a sign Musk will do business with firms he doesn't always like, as long as the check clears. For now, his truce with the firm ends one feud while another keeps running.