SpaceX and Anthropic: Uncertainty Remains Over the Colossus Contract

A Strategic Agreement Between xAI and Anthropic

Earlier this month, xAI signed a major computing contract with Anthropic, promising billions of dollars per month for the exclusive use of the company's Colossus cluster. This agreement represents a masterstroke for both companies, providing xAI with necessary revenue and helping Anthropic catch up in the relentless race for computing power.

Elon Musk's Statements

However, this morning on X, Elon Musk downplayed SpaceX's commitment to this agreement. In response to a user, he stated: "SpaceX is not committed to renting Colossus for years, although that may be what happens." He clarified that it is a 180-day lease with a mutual termination notice of 90 days thereafter. Musk added that the short duration of the lease was a request from SpaceX, not Anthropic. He assured that SpaceX would not leave Anthropic in the lurch and would provide a reasonable exit, but also mentioned that if computing became extremely tight, SpaceX might need it at some point.

Contradictions with SpaceX's S-1 Filing

Musk's statement directly contradicts SpaceX's recent S-1 filing, which confirms the standard 90-day termination but presents the agreement as a three-year contract. According to page F-62 of the filing, on May 3, 2026, SpaceX entered into a cloud services agreement with Anthropic PBC, a public benefit corporation focused on AI research and development, regarding access to computing capacity. Under this agreement, the client agreed to pay a monthly fee until May 2029, with an increase in capacity in May 2026 at a reduced rate. The agreement can be terminated by either party with 90 days' notice. The client will retain ownership and intellectual property rights over its content, AI models, and related data.

Financial Details and Implications

The key point here is that Anthropic "has agreed to pay a monthly fee until May 2029," which clearly describes a three-year lease. The same language is repeated on page F-96 and in a slightly varied form ("the client has agreed to pay us $1.25 billion per month until May 2029") on pages 13 and 146, so this is not just a typographical error.

Silence from the Parties Involved

xAI has not responded to a request for clarification. Perhaps we can discuss the fact that Anthropic agreeing to pay for a service means the same thing as SpaceX agreeing to provide that service, but that is generally not what "lease" means. And why have a one-way lock if each party can terminate the agreement with three months' notice anyway?

Regulatory Stakes

I do not have the agreement in front of me, so I do not know what it says — and neither SpaceX nor Anthropic are saying anything about the duration of the agreement in their announcements. Nevertheless, there should be a fairly straightforward fact here, and this is not the kind of thing one wants to make false statements about during a company's quiet period. As always, we should note that the SEC will likely do nothing — and even if it did, Elon probably wouldn't care. But it still seems to be a materially incorrect representation made during the marketing of a security, which is bad karma, at the very least.

Sean O’Kane contributed to this article.