Are Caterpillar Generators the Answer to AI’s Era of Power Self-Sufficiency? ... Anthropic Also Spent 4.6 Trillion Won to Buy a Place in Line

[Financial News]  AI company Anthropic took over the rights to order 1.7 GW of Caterpillar Inc. gas generators for about $3.4 billion (approximately 4.6 trillion won).
The Financial Times (FT) reported on the 8th (local time) that Anthropic acquired in late September the order rights and installation capacity tied to orders that Texas-based OnePWR Solutions had placed with Caterpillar Inc. two years earlier. It is the largest single purchase of power equipment by an AI company known to date.
What Anthropic bought was, in effect, “time.” If ordered now, gas turbines and large generators can take years to be delivered, but orders already in the production schedule can be delivered within two years. However, 1.7 GW is the combined capacity of the generators, not the amount of generating capacity Anthropic has actually secured. The installation locations and timing have also not been disclosed.
Caterpillar Inc.’s backlog at the end of the third and fourth quarters stood at $78 billion, a record high and a 96% increase from a year earlier. Driven by demand for data-center turbines and large engines, revenue in its power generation segment also rose 30% to $3.421 billion. Some large engines are booked through 2029, and turbines through 2030. The company is expanding production capacity, including through a $725 million investment in its Indiana plant.
The deal comes amid pressure on AI companies to bear the costs of power infrastructure themselves. Last February, Anthropic said it would cover the cost of connecting its data centers to the power grid and directly add new generation equipment.
Electricity costs for data centers emerged as a key issue in the U.S. midterm elections on the 3rd. Since the Democrats’ victory, legislation to make companies bear the costs of power infrastructure has also been moving forward. Expanding the power grid takes five to 10 years, while installing generators takes one to two years, making on-site generation capacity an increasingly attractive alternative.
Other Big Tech companies are expected to follow suit. Early this year, xAI secured mobile gas turbines worth about $2 billion. Microsoft is also pursuing gas-fired power plants for data centers with Chevron, using Caterpillar Inc. generators and GE Vernova, Inc. turbines.
Analysts in the power and infrastructure industries say AI companies’ competitiveness is extending beyond semiconductors and data centers to their ability to secure power.
One industry source said, “In the competition for AI infrastructure, what matters now is not how cheaply you can buy electricity, but how quickly you can secure it,” and added, “The longer delays in grid connections persist, the fiercer Big Tech’s race to secure its own generation facilities will become.”


[email protected] Kim Gyeong-a Reporter