Anthropic must burn natural gas: AI energy crisis

Anthropic is turning to natural gas turbines. Waiting 2-3 years for grid connection puts artificial intelligence data centers at a new energy risk.

Anthropic is forced to switch to natural gas because AI data centers require huge amounts of electricity. While the company is preparing for its public offering, local networks cannot meet this demand. Moreover, closing the gap with natural gas also creates new financial and environmental problems.

Why is Anthropic turning to natural gas turbines?

The company filed an S-1 document with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Accordingly, access to electricity is now a major business risk. Because connecting a new data center to the regional network can take 2 or 3 years. That's why developers are installing their own natural gas turbines on the site.

Melius Research analysts state that natural gas has quickly become the main fuel sustaining the artificial intelligence boom. Yet Anthropic also faces new financial and environmental challenges with its natural gas solution.

Grid Queues and Turbine Shortage

According to Goldman Sachs' latest projections, electricity demand for data centers in the US will double between 2025 and 2027. For this reason, there has been a huge backlog of orders for gas turbines from manufacturers such as GE Vernova. Moreover, the problem has become so severe that the situation has reached the point of litigation.

Recently, cloud provider Oracle also issued a force majeure notice. Because local regulators blocked a natural gas pipeline permit for a large data center site.

Relying on fossil fuel leaves AI labs exposed to sudden gas price increases and tight pipeline capacity. Moreover, burning more natural gas raises global temperatures. That's why server facilities spend more electricity and water just for cooling.

Anthropic also clearly acknowledges the cost risk of choosing natural gas in the document. Accordingly, high energy bills can directly squeeze operating margins. This could also stall future hardware expansion.

Local Reactions and Financial Risks

Rising utility bills are sparking outrage from residents in dozens of communities across the country. That's why local regulators are asking data center developers to pay for expensive network upgrades. Regulators don't want the costs to be passed on to nearby neighborhoods.

However, having companies shoulder the bill for these energy projects could easily push back construction schedules. Some companies may even have to give up their planned data center sites altogether.

For this reason, laboratories that guarantee stable and long-term energy sources will stay ahead of their competitors stuck on the grid waiting list. Because access to electricity is no longer just a matter of background infrastructure. It also determines which AI platforms can grow.

Finally, finding enough electricity for the next 5 years will remain a major hurdle for technology companies. Anthropic uses the natural gas option to overcome this obstacle.