Elon Musk has publicly praised Anthropic and reassured the artificial intelligence company that SpaceX will not suddenly withdraw the computing infrastructure it depends on.
His comments followed concerns raised by users on X about the risks of Anthropic relying on infrastructure controlled by one of its competitors. Some users suggested that Musk could eventually remove Anthropic from SpaceX systems to weaken the company’s position in the artificial intelligence market.
Musk rejected that possibility and said such behavior was not his style. He also admitted that his earlier assessment of Anthropic had been wrong.
Musk previously expressed doubts about Anthropic’s ability to succeed in the highly competitive artificial intelligence industry.
In September 2025, he suggested that winning was not a realistic outcome for the company. His latest comments represent a significant change in tone.
Musk now considers Anthropic one of the strongest companies in the AI sector. He praised the company’s Mythos and Fable models and suggested that Anthropic is currently leading the industry.
He also predicted that the company could release Mythos 2 in the near future.
The comments indicate that Musk’s view of Anthropic has changed as the company has strengthened its position among developers and enterprise customers.
The relationship between Musk and Anthropic is not limited to public comments. Anthropic has become one of the largest customers of SpaceX’s artificial intelligence infrastructure business.
In May 2026, Anthropic reportedly agreed to purchase 300 megawatts of computing capacity from the Colossus 1 data center near Memphis, Tennessee.
The agreement gives Anthropic access to the facility’s entire computing output. The company is expected to pay approximately $1.25 billion per month until May 2029.
Over the full contract period, the arrangement could generate around $40 billion in revenue for SpaceX’s xAI unit.
The deal became part of SpaceX’s operations after xAI merged with SpaceX in February 2026.
Google has also reportedly signed a major infrastructure agreement with SpaceX. Under that arrangement, Google is expected to pay approximately $920 million per month for access to computing resources through June 2029.
Anthropic’s agreement with SpaceX gives the AI company access to enormous computing capacity. However, it also creates an unusual relationship between two competitors.
Anthropic develops AI systems that compete with products from xAI. At the same time, the company depends on infrastructure controlled by Musk’s businesses.
This situation has raised questions about whether Anthropic could become vulnerable if the relationship between the companies deteriorates.
Critics have suggested that SpaceX could restrict Anthropic’s access to computing resources during a competitive dispute. Such a move could potentially interrupt model training, product development, and services used by Anthropic’s customers.
Musk has attempted to address those concerns by promising that he would not remove Anthropic in a way that caused serious harm to the company.
Musk cited several examples to support his claim that his companies do not unfairly punish competitors.
He pointed to Tesla’s 2014 patent pledge, which allowed other companies to use Tesla technology in good faith without facing patent lawsuits.
Tesla also opened its Supercharger network to vehicles made by competing manufacturers. In addition, the company made its charging connector design available to the wider automotive industry.
Musk said SpaceX follows a similar approach when working with competing satellite companies. According to him, SpaceX does not increase launch prices or impose unfair conditions simply because a customer competes with one of Musk’s businesses.
He also noted that users who strongly criticize him are still permitted to use X.
These examples were presented as evidence that SpaceX would continue supporting Anthropic even while xAI competes with it in the AI market.
Anthropic may not have to depend entirely on Musk’s personal assurances.
A large infrastructure agreement would normally include contractual protections and consequences for either party if the terms were violated. SpaceX could face significant financial and legal risks if it suddenly stopped providing the computing resources covered by the agreement.
The financial value of the partnership also gives SpaceX a strong reason to keep Anthropic as a customer.
Anthropic’s monthly payments provide substantial revenue for SpaceX and its xAI division. Ending the relationship could mean losing billions of dollars while potentially damaging SpaceX’s reputation as a reliable infrastructure provider.
Other AI companies may be reluctant to sign similar agreements if they believe SpaceX could withdraw services whenever a customer becomes a serious competitor.
Hosting Anthropic’s computing operations may also provide technical benefits for SpaceX.
SpaceX engineers will gain experience building and supporting infrastructure for one of the world’s fastest-growing AI companies. This could help the company improve its data centers, computing systems, and AI infrastructure services.
Amazon has gained similar experience through its relationship with Anthropic. Supporting large AI workloads can help infrastructure providers understand the technical requirements of advanced model development.
However, the close relationship may also create concerns about how much SpaceX can learn about Anthropic’s operations.
Infrastructure providers may gain visibility into areas such as computing demand, system architecture, training schedules, and resource usage. These details could be commercially sensitive when the infrastructure provider also owns a competing AI company.
The debate also involves the practice known as AI distillation.
Distillation can involve using repeated interactions with a competitor’s model to learn about its behavior and improve another system. Companies may create large numbers of accounts or submit extensive prompts to gather useful information from a rival model.
Musk has previously acknowledged that distillation occurs across the AI industry.
Anthropic has also accused several Chinese AI developers of using its Claude models for distillation. The company claimed that those developers created accounts and generated large numbers of interactions to improve competing systems.
Anthropic and Google are likely to have safeguards designed to prevent SpaceX or xAI from accessing sensitive information while providing infrastructure. Even so, the partnership may give SpaceX a closer view of Anthropic’s operations than most competitors would receive.
For Anthropic, the agreement provides the computing power needed to develop and operate increasingly advanced AI models.
For SpaceX, the contract brings major recurring revenue and valuable experience in large-scale AI infrastructure.
Musk’s public praise could also help reassure customers that SpaceX intends to act as a neutral infrastructure provider, even when it serves companies that compete with xAI.
The long-term relationship will depend on whether both sides continue to benefit from the arrangement. Competitive tensions could increase as Anthropic and xAI release new models and compete for the same enterprise customers.
For now, Musk appears eager to preserve the partnership. His comments suggest that he views Anthropic as both a formidable competitor and an important customer that SpaceX has no intention of losing.
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