Anthropic's IPO filing admits reliance on natural gas for data center growth
In documents filed with US regulators ahead of a planned public listing, AI company Anthropic says its data centers increasingly depend on natural gas. It warns that rising costs and constraints could hamper its growth.
Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company, has acknowledged in its S-1 registration filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday that its data center buildout is increasingly dependent on natural gas. The filing, made as the company prepares to go public, warns that higher fuel prices and supply constraints could raise costs or delay its plans. This matters because the rapid growth of generative AI requires ever more electricity.
Competition for power
The document says competition for electrical supply and data center sites with adequate power is intense. Anthropic notes that some of its planned data centers will rely on electricity generated by natural gas turbines on site. The company leases capacity from hyperscalers, the large cloud providers, but last year announced a $50 billion plan to expand data centers in Texas and New York.
It also expects greater competition for gas and pipeline capacity from other large cloud providers building their own facilities, which it says could push up the price of natural gas.
Climate risks
The S-1 lists climate change as a risk to the company's costs: as temperatures climb, it will have to pay more for electricity and for water used to cool servers. Meanwhile, data center electricity use adds to greenhouse gas emissions. A recent Texas-based study found that data center demand could wipe out decades of air quality gains over the next five years.
Local opposition and regulation
Gas supplies 40 percent of US electricity generation. Residents have blocked dozens of proposed data centers across the country, and Anthropic acknowledges that fears of rising utility bills can interfere with projects. If regulators make developers cover more of the cost of new energy infrastructure, its operating costs would rise. Without a secure gas supply and pipelines, the company says it might delay or abandon planned projects.
The company warns that such obstacles could limit its ability to scale its computing infrastructure, develop and deploy its models, and serve customers.
