SpaceX leases compute capacity to Anthropic and Google for $26 billion annually

SpaceX has agreed to lease unused computing capacity from its Colossus data centers to Anthropic and Google. The agreements, struck in May, could generate roughly $26 billion annually for the company.

Under the terms, Anthropic will receive access to approximately 325,000 Nvidia GPUs for $1.25 billion per month. Google will secure about 110,000 GPUs for $920 million a month.

This compute rental business offers immediate revenue from existing infrastructure. It provides investors with a tangible justification for SpaceX’s $1.8 trillion valuation following its record-breaking IPO last month, moving the narrative beyond rockets and satellites.

Last year, SpaceX generated $18.7 billion in total revenue, driven by $11.4 billion from Starlink and $4.1 billion from launches. Its AI segment, following the February acquisition of xAI, produced $3.2 billion in revenue but recorded a $6.4 billion operating loss.

The model capitalizes on surging demand for AI compute that outpaces the years required to build new data centers. "It shows that there’s just different pathways for them to generate revenue in their AI segment," said Sean Cray, a senior analyst at Moody’s, noting it doesn't strictly have to come from Grok.

However, the contracts include a 90-day cancellation provision. This allows SpaceX to reclaim capacity for its own Grok model, but also lets customers leave if cheaper alternatives emerge.

Sridhar Tayur, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, questioned the long-term viability of the strategy by asking, "Is it a one-off thing that is not your main line of business, or is infrastructure as a service going to become a permanent part?"

The broader market shows intense competition for AI infrastructure. Meta is reportedly in talks to lease computing power to Anthropic in a deal potentially worth $10 billion over two years. Meanwhile, OpenAI is advancing its Stargate initiative to build a vast U.S. data center network.

SpaceX is also looking to expand its footprint in the public sector. The Wall Street Journal reported the company is in talks to provide the Pentagon with data-center capacity potentially worth billions of dollars.

If finalized, such deals would solidify compute leasing as a permanent business line rather than a temporary stopgap. "There will probably be other third parties that would be interested in that compute because pretty much at this rate it’s a race to secure that compute capacity," Cray noted.