Anthropic has agreed to pay $3.4 billion for gas-fired generators intended to support its data centres, in what the Financial Times described as the largest known single purchase of power-generation equipment by an artificial intelligence company. The deal highlights how the rapid expansion of AI computing is pushing technology firms deeper into the energy and infrastructure sectors.
According to the report, Anthropic bought commitments for 1.7 gigawatts of heavy-duty generators from San Antonio-based equipment supplier OnePWR Solutions in late September. The purchase did not involve acquiring OnePWR itself. Instead, Anthropic took over the supplier’s existing orders for Caterpillar generators, the report said.
Anthropic had initially planned to buy power from OnePWR before moving to secure the generator orders directly, according to the Financial Times. The arrangement gives the AI company a more direct role in obtaining generation equipment for the data-centre infrastructure required to run its systems.
OnePWR and Anthropic declined to comment to the Financial Times and had not immediately responded to requests from Bloomberg, according to the report. The details of the locations, construction schedules and operating arrangements for the planned facilities were not provided in the material available.
The reported purchase comes as AI companies compete for access to power, computing equipment, data-centre sites and land. Large-scale data centres require substantial and reliable electricity, while grid connections and generation equipment can take time to secure. By taking control of generator orders, Anthropic is reported to be bypassing some intermediaries in an effort to secure capacity for its expanding operations.
The move also follows Anthropic’s growing spending plans. The company said on Monday that it intends to spend more than $895 billion in the years ahead, with most of that total related to computing-power costs and infrastructure. The statement did not provide a project-by-project breakdown of the planned expenditure.
The 1.7-gigawatt figure indicates the scale of infrastructure being assembled around AI workloads. Generator capacity of this size is not a routine equipment purchase for a technology company; it connects the development of digital services to fuel supply, industrial manufacturing, electricity reliability and local infrastructure planning. The reported transaction therefore places power procurement alongside chips, land and data-centre construction as a central constraint on AI expansion.
For cities and regions hosting data centres, such arrangements can affect decisions about industrial land, grid capacity, backup generation, emissions controls, water use and transport access. The supplied report does not identify the facilities associated with Anthropic’s generator commitments or describe their environmental and regulatory approvals.
The Financial Times report did not state when the generators would be delivered or when the related data-centre capacity would become operational. Anthropic’s next infrastructure milestones, including the locations and implementation schedule for the reported commitments, remain undisclosed in the available information.
