How Long Is Anthropic’s SpaceX Lease? No Clear Answer
▼ Summary
– xAI signed a major compute deal with Anthropic, with Anthropic agreeing to pay billions monthly through May 2029 for exclusive use of the Colossus cluster.
– Elon Musk downplayed the deal’s duration on X, claiming it is a 180-day lease with 90-day mutual cancellation, contradicting SpaceX’s S-1 filing.
– SpaceX’s S-1 filing states the agreement is a three-year lease through May 2029, with a monthly fee and 90-day cancellation option for either party.
– Musk’s statement seems to conflict with the filing’s language, which describes a fixed monthly payment until 2029, raising questions about material misrepresentation.
– The article notes the SEC is unlikely to act, but Musk’s statements during a quiet period could be seen as bad karma and misleading to investors.
Earlier this month, xAI secured a massive compute deal with Anthropic, agreeing to spend billions per month for exclusive access to the company’s Colossus cluster. The arrangement was seen as a win-win, providing xAI with a crucial revenue stream while helping Anthropic keep pace in the relentless race for computing power.
But this morning on X, Elon Musk cast doubt on exactly how long SpaceX is actually committed to the agreement.
“SpaceX has not committed to leasing Colossus for years, although it’s possible that may be what happens,” he wrote in response to a user. “This is a 180 day lease with 90 day notice mutual cancellation thereafter. The short term was our request, not Anthropic’s. We won’t leave them hanging and will provide a reasonable off-ramp, but if compute gets super tight I said we might need it back at some point.”
Musk’s statement directly contradicts SpaceX’s recent S-1 filing, which describes the deal as a three-year term while also noting the standard 90-day cancellation clause. Page F-62 of the filing states:
On May 3, 2026, the Company entered into a cloud services agreement with Anthropic PBC, an AI research and development public benefit corporation, with respect to access to compute capacity. Pursuant to this agreement, the customer has agreed to pay a monthly fee through May 2029, with capacity ramping in May 2026 at a reduced fee. The agreement may be terminated by either party upon 90 days’ notice. The customer will retain ownership and intellectual property rights in its content, AI models, and related data.
The critical detail is that Anthropic “has agreed to pay a monthly fee through May 2029” , a clear description of a three-year lease. This language appears consistently on F-96 and in slightly different forms on pages 13 and 146 (“the customer has agreed to pay us $1.25 billion per month through May 2029”), making a typo unlikely.
xAI did not respond to a request for clarification.
One could argue about whether Anthropic’s obligation to pay equates to SpaceX’s obligation to provide the service, but that’s not typically what a lease implies. And if either party can exit the deal with just 90 days’ notice, why include a one-way lock-in at all?
I haven’t seen the actual contract, so I can’t confirm what it says , and neither SpaceX nor Anthropic is clarifying the duration in their public announcements. Still, there should be a straightforward factual answer here, and making false statements during a company’s quiet period is not advisable.
As always, it’s worth noting that the SEC likely won’t take action , and even if it did, Elon probably wouldn’t care. But this does seem like a material misrepresentation made while marketing a security, which is at least bad karma.
Sean O’Kane contributed reporting to this article.
(Source: TechCrunch)
