Elon Musk reassures Anthropic: no underhanded moves in sight

Elon Musk and Anthropic: A Relationship Built on Trust

Can Anthropic, the artificial intelligence lab, truly rely on Elon Musk to host its models without the risk of underhanded tactics? This question arose after some users on the X platform suggested that Musk might one day decide to disconnect Anthropic from SpaceX servers in order to harm a competitor. In response to these insinuations, Musk expressed his admiration for Anthropic, stating that such actions were not in his nature.

Elon Musk acknowledged that he had underestimated Anthropic in the past. In September 2025, he posted a message on X claiming that Anthropic could never win. However, by that time, Anthropic was already a major player, dominating the enterprise AI market. Today, Musk seems to have changed his mind, recognizing Anthropic's success.

A Strategic Partnership with SpaceX

Since July 2026, Anthropic has become one of SpaceX's key clients. In May, Anthropic signed a contract to acquire 300 megawatts of computing power, corresponding to the entire output of xAI's Colossus 1 data center, located near Memphis, Tennessee. This collaboration, stemming from the merger of xAI with SpaceX in February, represents a financial commitment of $1.25 billion per month until May 2029, amounting to approximately $40 billion in revenue for SpaceX.

Google has also struck a deal with SpaceX, renting its infrastructure for $920 million per month until June 2029. Musk emphasized that Anthropic's decision to partner with SpaceX was not risky and that he genuinely admired this competing company.

Musk, a Fair-Play Competitor?

Elon Musk stated that Anthropic's models, Mythos and Fable, are the most advanced on the market and that he would never seek to harm a competitor unfairly. He recalled instances where he chose not to crush his rivals, such as in 2014 when Tesla decided not to sue those who used its patents in good faith. Additionally, Tesla opened its Supercharger network and the design of its charging port to competitors.

Musk also mentioned that SpaceX launches competing satellite systems without raising prices or imposing unfair conditions. He highlighted that even his worst enemies could attack him on the X platform, illustrating his commitment to fair competition.

Contractual and Strategic Stakes

Despite these reassurances, Musk is not a stranger to aggressive tactics against his rivals, particularly those with whom he has a contentious history, such as OpenAI. However, Anthropic can rely on contractual clauses to protect itself from a potential abrupt termination of the agreement by Musk. The financial interest for SpaceX in maintaining this collaboration is also a deterrent factor.

Furthermore, this relationship offers SpaceX the opportunity to learn from Anthropic's engineers, much like Amazon does with its partners. This proximity could also allow SpaceX to gain a better understanding of Anthropic's operations, which could be a strategic advantage.

Future Prospects

During his lawsuit against OpenAI, Musk acknowledged the existence of "distillation" in AI, a practice where a model creator uses fake accounts to understand how a competitor operates. In February, Anthropic accused three Chinese model creators of using this technique on Claude. Anthropic and Google hope to have implemented sufficient protections to prevent SpaceX from exploiting their technology in this manner.

For now, the partnership between SpaceX and Anthropic appears to be beneficial for both parties. However, as the contract progresses, the future remains uncertain.