Anthropic Secures SpaceX Data Centre Deal for AI Development
- tech360.tv
- 2 minutes ago
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Anthropic has reached an agreement to utilise computing resources from Elon Musk’s SpaceX, marking a détente with its former critic. This deal provides a significant boost for both companies in the highly competitive artificial intelligence race.
Under the agreement, Anthropic will access the full computing power of SpaceX’s Colossus 1 facility in Memphis, Tennessee. This facility contains more than 220,000 Nvidia processors.
The arrangement will provide Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, with 300 megawatts of new computing capacity within a month. This helps Anthropic alleviate capacity constraints following a surge in demand for products such as its AI coding tool, Claude Code.
The deal also provides IPO-bound SpaceX with a prominent customer, supporting its artificial intelligence ambitions. Both companies expressed interest in collaborating on developing multiple gigawatts of space-based orbital data centres in the future.
Ryan Mallory, chief executive officer of data centre operator Flexential, commented on the significance of this ambition. Mr. Mallory stated, "The fact that serious companies are even discussing compute capacity in space tells you how aggressively the market is searching for power and scale."
This future endeavour is a key goal for Mr. Musk and a major driver for SpaceX’s initial public offering. However, it is expected to be highly capital intensive and technically challenging.
Elon Musk stated on X that he decided to lease computing power after spending time with Anthropic leaders. He was impressed by their work to ensure Anthropic’s Claude AI is "good for humanity."
Mr. Musk wrote, "No one set off my evil detector," a reference to his previous concerns about AI systems. He is currently involved in a court dispute with OpenAI and its Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman regarding its mission to develop AI for the benefit of humanity.
He added that SpaceX has moved its AI training efforts to Colossus 2. Mr. Musk indicated he would offer computing capacity to other AI companies committed to benefiting humanity, akin to how SpaceX launches satellites for competitors with "fair terms and pricing."
These comments represent a significant shift from remarks Mr. Musk made in Feb., when he accused Anthropic’s AI of bias. At that time, he posted on X, "Frankly, I don’t think there is anything you can do to escape the inevitable irony of Anthropic ending up being misanthropic."
Anthropic unveiled a new Claude AI feature called "dreaming" at a developer day in San Francisco. This feature helps its AI systems learn by reviewing work between sessions, spotting patterns, and updating files that store user preferences and other context.
The "dreaming" feature is available as a research preview and comes with Anthropic’s software for managing agents. Agents are AI programmes designed to perform tasks with minimal human involvement.
Buoyed by the extra capacity from the SpaceX deal and other recent agreements, Anthropic is doubling Claude Code’s rate limits for its paid plans. The company is also removing peak-hour usage caps for Pro and Max accounts.
Additionally, Anthropic is sharply increasing the volume of requests developers can make to its Claude Opus models. This push is part of Anthropic’s strategy to secure more business customers.
The popularity surge for Claude Code has intensified competition in the market. This has prompted OpenAI to scale back some efforts, such as its Sora video-generation tool, to focus more on the fast-growing market for AI-powered coding.
Boris Cherny, Anthropic’s head of Claude Code, demonstrated how developers could set up "routines" to schedule Anthropic’s AI computer programmer for action. Mr. Cherny demonstrated this on stage at the San Francisco event.
He commented, "The default isn't, 'I'm going to prompt Claude Code.' The default is now, 'I will have Claude prompt Claude Code.'" Mr. Cherny concluded his keynote address with a message on AI’s productive power.
He stated, "The capability is already here. The gap left is how fast we put it to work."
Anthropic secured a deal to use computing resources from SpaceX’s Colossus 1 facility.
This agreement provides Anthropic with 300 megawatts of new capacity and offers SpaceX a significant customer for its AI ambitions.
Anthropic announced the "dreaming" AI feature and is expanding Claude Code’s capabilities.
Source: REUTERS