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Elon Musk’s SpaceX and xAI have agreed to provide Anthropic with full use of the Colossus 1 data center to run Claude, easing the startup’s compute bottleneck but igniting environmental and reputational concerns. Colossus 1’s past air-quality permit issues and turbine emissions have drawn criticism, while Musk framed access as conditional—reserving the right to “reclaim the compute” if an AI system harms humanity. The arrangement underscores a growing supply-chain vulnerability where essential compute access can be wielded as policy leverage, raising questions about governance, accountability, and the environmental costs of concentrated AI infrastructure.
SpaceX’s IPO filing reveals governance terms that would give Elon Musk near-total control if the rocket company goes public, combining supervoting shares, mandatory arbitration, limits on shareholder proposals and Texas corporate law to constrain legal challenges and votes. The filing says only Musk can remove him as CEO, effectively locking in executive authority and reducing typical investor protections. While governance experts and some investors warn these provisions are unprecedented and risky, many institutional buyers may accept restrictions to access what could be a massive IPO—potentially up to $75 billion in proceeds and a $1.75 trillion valuation—fearing they’ll miss out on outsized returns. Critics warn it could set a template for future founder-led IPOs.
Simon Willison / Simon Willison's Weblog : While Anthropic will use the Colossus 1 data center, which has a really bad environmental record, xAI retains the larger Colossus 2 for its own AI training — There weren't a lot of big new announcements from Anthropic at yesterday's Code w/ Claude event, but the biggest by far …
Elon Musk / @elonmusk : Elon Musk says SpaceX reserves “the right to reclaim the compute” from Anthropic if its “AI engages in actions that harm humanity” — @MobofJoggers @nottombrown Just as SpaceX launches hundreds of satellites for competitors with fair terms and pricing, we will provide compute to AI companies that are taking the right steps to ensure it is good for humanity. We reserve the right to reclaim the compute if their AI engages in actions that
Anthropic has struck a deal to use all capacity of xAI/SpaceX’s Colossus 1 data center to run Claude, a move that eases Anthropic’s compute bottleneck but raises environmental and reputational concerns. Colossus 1 has a controversial record—its gas turbines once operated without proper Clean Air Act permits and have been linked to local air-quality health impacts—prompting criticism from observers like Andy Masley. xAI will retain its larger Colossus 2 for in-house work, so this isn’t a full exit from Grok development, though xAI recently deprecated Grok 4.1 Fast with short notice, which angered customers. Elon Musk framed the deal as conditional support for companies acting “good for humanity,” implying a new supply-chain risk tied to his discretion.