Anthropic will pay xAI $1.25B per month for compute

Anthropic 将每月向 xAI 支付 12.5 亿美元用于算力租赁

Earlier this month, Anthropic surprised the AI world with a deal to buy 300 megawatts’ worth of compute — securing the entire output of the Colossus 1 data center near Memphis, Tennessee. 本月初，Anthropic 达成了一项购买 300 兆瓦算力的协议，锁定了位于田纳西州孟菲斯附近的 Colossus 1 数据中心的全部产能，这一举动震惊了人工智能界。

Turns out, compute at that scale isn’t cheap. Anthropic will be paying xAI $1.25 billion per month through May 2029, with a discounted rate for the first two months as xAI completes its ramp-up. All told, the deal could bring xAI over $40 billion in revenue. 事实证明，如此规模的算力价格不菲。Anthropic 将在 2029 年 5 月之前每月向 xAI 支付 12.5 亿美元，由于 xAI 需要时间完成产能爬坡，前两个月将享受折扣费率。总计来看，这笔交易可能为 xAI 带来超过 400 亿美元的收入。

Details of the transaction emerged from SpaceX’s S-1 filing with the SEC. The deal, the company said, “allows us to monetize unused compute capacity in our infrastructure.” The terms of the deal allow either side to terminate the contract with 90 days’ notice. “We expect to enter into additional similar services contracts,” the filing stated. 该交易的细节披露于 SpaceX 向美国证券交易委员会（SEC）提交的 S-1 文件中。公司表示，该协议“使我们能够将基础设施中未使用的算力容量变现”。协议条款允许任何一方在提前 90 天通知的情况下终止合同。文件中写道：“我们预计将签订更多类似的此类服务合同。”

The move has given xAI a hybrid stance in the AI market. Most players either build data centers for themselves or build data centers for others to use — rarely both simultaneously. This emerging model, sometimes called a “neocloud,” lets AI companies offset infrastructure costs by acting as a cloud provider when their own usage falls short of capacity. 此举使 xAI 在人工智能市场中处于一种混合地位。大多数参与者要么为自己建设数据中心，要么为他人提供数据中心服务——很少同时兼顾两者。这种被称为“新云”（neocloud）的新兴模式，允许人工智能公司在自身算力需求不足时，通过充当云服务提供商来抵消基础设施成本。

SpaceX argues the arrangement is a savvy use of resources. “We believe our dual monetization strategy provides multiple pathways to generate returns on invested capital,” it wrote. SpaceX 认为这种安排是对资源的精明利用。该公司写道：“我们相信我们的双重变现策略为投资资本的回报提供了多种途径。”

But the subtext is hard to miss: xAI appears to have overbuilt its compute capacity and needed to find a way to monetize it ahead of a public offering. Usage of Grok — xAI’s flagship AI assistant — has dropped significantly in recent months, freeing up servers that the company is now selling to one of its closest competitors. 但其背后的潜台词显而易见：xAI 似乎过度建设了算力容量，需要在首次公开募股（IPO）前找到将其变现的方法。xAI 的旗舰人工智能助手 Grok 的使用率在近几个月大幅下降，从而腾出了服务器，公司现在正将其出售给其最亲密的竞争对手之一。