Artificial intelligence company Anthropic has entered into a significant partnership with SpaceX, marking a notable shift in relations between Elon Musk and the AI startup. The agreement gives Anthropic access to the full computing power of SpaceX’s Colossus 1 facility in Memphis, Tennessee, strengthening the company’s position in the rapidly intensifying global AI race.
The announcement is particularly striking because Musk had previously criticized Anthropic and other AI companies over concerns related to AI safety and governance. The collaboration now signals a temporary alignment of interests as demand for large-scale computing infrastructure continues to grow across the artificial-intelligence sector.
Under the agreement announced on Wednesday, Anthropic will gain access to more than 220,000 Nvidia processors housed at the Colossus 1 data centre. The facility is expected to provide the Claude AI developer with 300 megawatts of additional computing capacity within a month.
According to industry estimates, that amount of electricity is enough to power more than 300,000 homes.
The additional infrastructure support is expected to significantly strengthen Anthropic’s Claude AI ecosystem. The company plans to use the expanded computing power to improve performance and scalability for its Claude Pro and Claude Max subscription services.
Anthropic stated that the extra capacity from the SpaceX agreement and other recent partnerships would allow the company to double Claude Code’s rate limits for paid subscribers. The company is also removing peak-hour usage caps for Pro and Max accounts while increasing the number of requests developers can make using its Claude Opus AI models.
The rapid growth of generative AI systems has dramatically increased demand for advanced processors and large-scale data centres. AI companies worldwide are now competing aggressively for access to high-performance computing infrastructure, particularly Nvidia chips that are widely considered essential for training and running advanced AI models.
The announcement coincided with Anthropic’s developer conference, where the company introduced a new feature for its Claude AI platform called “dreaming”.
The tool allows AI systems to review work between sessions, identify patterns, and update stored user preferences and contextual information. Anthropic described the feature as part of its ongoing effort to make AI assistants more capable and context-aware.
Available as a research preview, “dreaming” also includes software designed to manage AI agents — autonomous programs capable of performing tasks with minimal human involvement.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has previously warned that artificial intelligence could eliminate 50 percent of entry-level jobs within the next one to five years, highlighting growing concerns about the long-term economic impact of automation.
In a statement posted on X, Elon Musk explained that his decision to provide computing resources to Anthropic came after meeting with the company’s leadership team.
According to Musk, Anthropic’s efforts to ensure its Claude AI system remains safe and beneficial to society influenced his decision.
“No one set off my evil detector,” wrote Musk, who is battling OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman in court for allegedly breaching its mission to develop AI for the good of humanity and remain a nonprofit organisation.
The comment reflects Musk’s long-standing emphasis on AI safety and ethical development. Musk has repeatedly argued that advanced artificial intelligence should be developed with strict safeguards to avoid potential risks to humanity.
The partnership may extend beyond current computing infrastructure. Anthropic revealed that it is interested in collaborating with SpaceX on the development of multiple gigawatts of orbital data centres in space.
The idea aligns with one of Musk’s long-term ambitions for SpaceX and is reportedly viewed as a major strategic component of the company’s future growth plans and eventual initial public offering.
However, experts note that creating space-based data centres would require enormous investment, advanced cooling systems, reliable energy generation, and highly complex engineering solutions.
The agreement comes while Musk remains involved in a high-profile legal battle with OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman.
Last week, Musk alleged in court that by late 2022, Altman was attempting to “steal the charity” and later claimed that “it turned out to be true”.
Musk, who co-founded OpenAI, has argued that the organisation moved away from its original nonprofit mission focused on developing AI for the benefit of humanity.
He also recalled an earlier conversation with Larry Page about AI safety concerns.
“I said, ‘What if AI wipes out all humans?’ He said that would be fine so long as artificial intelligence survives. I said that was insane, that’s just crazy. And then he called me a ‘speciesist’ because I care about humans more than AI. … The reason OpenAI exists is because Larry Page called me a ‘speciesist.’ … What would be the opposite of Google? An open-source nonprofit.”
OpenAI’s legal team has rejected Musk’s claims and argued that the lawsuit is an attempt to weaken OpenAI in favor of Musk’s own AI company, xAI, which is now part of SpaceX.
The development also comes amid growing AI partnerships between the United States government and major technology firms. Recently, Microsoft, Google, and xAI agreed to allow the federal government to test their latest AI tools due to cybersecurity and hacking concerns.
In addition, the Department of Defense recently announced agreements with 10 AI companies to integrate AI systems into classified government networks. Anthropic was not included in that initiative.
The new partnership between SpaceX and Anthropic highlights the rapidly evolving dynamics of the global artificial-intelligence industry, where competition, infrastructure demand, and strategic alliances are reshaping the market. By securing access to one of the world’s largest AI computing facilities, Anthropic is positioning itself to scale its Claude AI ecosystem more aggressively in the face of mounting competition.
At the same time, Elon Musk’s continued legal conflict with OpenAI underscores broader debates surrounding AI governance, safety, commercialization, and the future direction of artificial intelligence. As AI development accelerates worldwide, access to massive computing power and trusted infrastructure partnerships is likely to become one of the most critical battlegrounds in the technology industry.