Musk reduces the Anthropic Colossus agreement to a six-month lease.

      Elon Musk stated on Wednesday that SpaceX did not enter into a multi-year lease for its Memphis Colossus 1 data center with Anthropic, clarifying that the agreement is actually a 180-day lease with a 90-day mutual cancellation option. This clarification contradicts widespread reports framing the agreement as a $1.25 billion per month deal over three years, extending to May 2029.

      According to Musk, the terms of the deal include a basic lease of 180 days, followed by a mutual cancellation option available to both parties after that period. Musk noted on his X account that the request for a shorter term came from SpaceX, not Anthropic. “We won’t leave them in the lurch and will offer a reasonable exit option, but if compute becomes extremely limited, I mentioned we might need it back at some point,” he wrote.

      This clarification is significant as it comes during the SpaceX IPO preparation period; the company filed for public listing last week. The S-1 registration includes a mention of the 90-day mutual cancellation clause but does not specify the six-month base term Musk publicly identified.

      The difference in interpretations of the lease duration, along with Musk's public statements, will likely be a topic of inquiry for analysts and potential investors during the upcoming IPO roadshow starting in June.

      The agreement involves Anthropic gaining access to the entire computing capacity of Colossus 1, a facility initially designed for training xAI's Grok, which contains over 220,000 Nvidia GPUs and offers more than 300 megawatts of computing power. The reported monthly rent for this access was $1.25 billion, which Anthropic has utilized to increase rate limits on its Claude Code and Opus API services, citing the deal with SpaceX.

      At the time, xAI had transitioned its model training to the newer and larger Colossus 2, making Colossus 1 available for external leasing. The key change now pertains to how the lease term is interpreted; a 180-day lease with a post-term cancellation option represents a significantly different commercial commitment compared to a 36-month agreement.

      For SpaceX, the shorter lease allows for flexibility in reclaiming computing resources if the demand for Grok training or other internal needs surge. For Anthropic, it implies that while they have access to substantial capacity, it serves more as a temporary solution rather than a permanent data center arrangement.

      Moreover, Anthropic's public communications regarding the deal, especially the announced increases in Claude's rate limits, indicated an expectation of a longer-term contract than what Musk has confirmed.

      From a regulatory standpoint, the distinction between these agreements is of importance to SEC lawyers. As a private entity moving towards a public offering, SpaceX must disclose significant commercial agreements impacting revenue. A 36-month agreement valued at $45 billion ($1.25 billion multiplied by 36) is fundamentally different from a 6-month deal with a maximum value of $7.5 billion if no extensions are negotiated.

      The S-1's reference to the 90-day cancellation provision without mentioning the 180-day base term highlights the disparity between these interpretations. Additionally, Musk's relationship with Anthropic adds context to the situation; he has publicly described the company as “Misanthropic” and positioned it as a competitor to xAI.

      In the previous year, all 11 co-founders of xAI have departed, and the company reported a loss of $6.4 billion in operations against $3.2 billion in revenue for 2025, trailing behind the growth rates of Anthropic and OpenAI. The rental agreement for Colossus 1 with Anthropic made sense commercially given xAI's capacity usage and SpaceX's IPO timeline. However, Musk’s recent revision indicates a desire for flexibility should circumstances alter.

      Neither SpaceX nor Anthropic provided formal comments regarding the lease term clarification. The SpaceX IPO roadshow is set to commence on June 8.