Anthropic Signs $3.4 Billion Deal for Gas-Fired Power Generators Ahead of Planned IPO

Anthropic has agreed to pay $3.4 billion for gas-fired power generators to supply its data centers, the Financial Times reported on November 8. The deal is described as the largest known single purchase of power-generation equipment by an AI lab, underscoring the scale of the company's infrastructure buildout as it prepares for a closely watched public offering.

The purchase lands at a complicated moment for Anthropic. The company is targeting a mid-November Nasdaq debut with a valuation that investors now peg at $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion, down from an earlier $2 trillion target. A sharp tech sell-off in the days before the deal was reported had already pushed market odds for a November IPO from above 90% to around 60% on prediction platform Kalshi, and several major investors told the Wall Street Journal the valuation would need to come down further.

The gas-fired power strategy adds another layer of complexity. Anthropic's reliance on fossil fuel generation exposes the company to sustainability scrutiny at a time when public opposition to AI data centers is intensifying. Voters in the November midterm elections rejected data center-related ballot measures in 40 out of 41 cases, and exit polling showed AI infrastructure ranked as a significant factor for more than half of congressional voters. Analysts note that the combination of a difficult market environment, a compressed IPO timeline, and the political optics of a multibillion-dollar gas power commitment creates meaningful execution risk for what would be one of the largest technology listings on record.