Elon Musk is trying to clear the air around SpaceX’s much talked-about AI infrastructure agreement with Anthropic after reports started circling online about a long-term commitment tied to the company’s giant Colossus data center project. The billionaire entrepreneur jumped onto X on Thursday and said the arrangement was never locked in as a multi-year guarantee, even though recent IPO paperwork gave that impression to many readers. According to Musk, the agreement was only meant to be a short-term setup at first, with both sides keeping flexibility in case the AI compute market changes fast in coming months.
The clarification comes at an interesting moment because SpaceX recently filed for its IPO, and investors have been closely scanning every detail connected to the company’s AI business expansion. Earlier reports suggested Anthropic had agreed to pay around $1.25 billion per month for access to compute capacity from the Colossus and Colossus II AI training clusters located in Memphis, Tennessee. Those agreements reportedly stretched through May 2029, which made it look like SpaceX had already secured a long financial runway through the booming AI infrastructure race. But Musk now says that picture isn’t exactly complete.
Musk Says The Deal Was Meant To Stay Flexible
In his post on X, Musk explained that SpaceX had only agreed to lease the Colossus systems for 180 days initially. He also mentioned there is a mutual 90-day cancellation notice built into the arrangement after that period. While he admitted the partnership could continue for years if things work smoothly, he stressed that SpaceX never promised a locked multi-year lease from the beginning. He also pointed out that the short-term nature of the agreement was actually requested by SpaceX itself and not Anthropic.
Musk’s comments hint that the company wants to keep options open as the demand for AI compute power keeps exploding worldwide. AI firms are currently fighting for access to large-scale GPU clusters, and infrastructure providers are becoming just as important as the AI models themselves. Nvidia’s chip shortage, rising data center costs, and increasing competition between companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and xAI have turned compute into one of the hottest commodities in tech right now. That’s probably why Musk suggested SpaceX might eventually need some of the compute capacity back if supply becomes “super tight” later on.
SpaceX’s AI Push Is Growing Fast Despite Heavy Losses
Even though the company’s AI division is still burning through cash, SpaceX appears serious about becoming a major compute provider in the artificial intelligence space. According to details from its IPO filing, the AI segment posted an operational loss of roughly $2.5 billion during the March quarter while generating around $818 million in revenue. Those are huge numbers, but they also show just how expensive the AI infrastructure race has become for companies trying to compete at scale.
The timing of Musk’s clarification is also notable because only last week he mentioned that SpaceX was in discussions with additional firms interested in buying AI compute as a service. That means Anthropic may not be the only major customer connected to the Colossus project moving forward. The AI boom has pushed several tech companies into building giant data center campuses across the United States, especially in regions where electricity and land costs are lower. Memphis has quickly become one of those emerging hubs.
Neither SpaceX nor Anthropic responded to Reuters requests for extra comments outside business hours, but Musk’s latest statements have already shifted the narrative around the deal online. Instead of a guaranteed years-long partnership, the agreement now looks more like a strategic arrangement with room for both companies to adjust depending on how fast the AI industry evolves over the next year or two.
