Anthropic Paying SpaceX $15B/Year for Colossus Compute
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- Anthropic agreed to pay $1.25 billion per month ($15 billion annually) through May 2029 for access to SpaceX's Colossus I and Colossus II AI training centers, per the S-1 filing.
- SpaceX disclosed the deal includes a mutual 90-day termination clause, and Anthropic's fees will be reduced during the capacity ramp-up this month and next.
- The $15 billion annual figure could nearly double SpaceX's $18.7 billion in 2025 revenue, underscoring how central AI compute has become to the rocket company's top line.
- SpaceX spent $12.7 billion on AI capital expenditures in 2025 (61% of total spend) and $7.7 billion in Q1 2026 — compared to just $1 billion on its space division in the same quarter.
- SpaceX's AI division lost $6.3 billion in 2025 on $3.2 billion in revenue, and posted a $2.5 billion operating loss on $818 million in revenue in Q1 2026.
- Anthropic is approaching its first quarterly operating profit, with sales revenue expected to reach at least $10.9 billion — more than double its $4.8 billion from the March quarter.
- Elon Musk posted on X that SpaceX is "offering AI compute as a service at significant scale" to other AI companies, framing Colossus as a platform beyond a single-tenant deal.
Why it matters: A 90-day exit clause on a $15 billion annual contract signals how fluid the AI compute market remains — even as Anthropic funnels massive revenue to SpaceX, either side can walk away on short notice. SpaceX is now spending roughly 7.7x more on AI infrastructure than rockets, and its AI division posted $6.3 billion in 2025 operating losses, meaning Anthropic's payments are a critical lifeline as SpaceX positions Colossus as a standalone compute platform for the broader industry.
