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become  available,  expanding  our  access  to  compute  capacity  while  reducing  our  dependence  on  any 
single hardware provider.

See the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
—Liquidity  and  Capital  Resources—Contractual  Obligations—Infrastructure  Service  Arrangements”  for  more 
information regarding the terms of these arrangements.

Our Data Center Strategy

Historically,  we  purchased  compute  under  fixed-time  agreements.  As  our  compute  requirements  have  scaled, 
we have transitioned to a hybrid model in which, in addition to purchasing compute as a cloud service, we also 
procure specialized AI accelerators directly and operate this hardware in dedicated data center facilities leased 
and  operated  on  our  behalf,  to  our  specification.  We  refer  to  this  additional  source  of  compute  as  Anthropic 
Direct. This transition is driven in part by the scale of our compute requirements as well as the potential long-
term  economic  advantages  of  direct  infrastructure  leasing  and  hosting. Our  first  data  center  facility  became 
operational this year. 

Anthropic Direct also lets us separate our commitment to data center capacity from our commitment to the AI 
accelerators deployed inside it. Because data centers require longer lead times but represent a smaller fraction 
of  total  compute  costs,  this  approach  enables  us  to  secure  data  center  capacity  early  while  deferring  larger 
accelerator investments until our specific compute needs are more certain.

Our data center infrastructure strategy includes several contractual arrangements that, taken together, form a 
new source of compute to supplement the capacity we procure from our CSPs. Such arrangements include the 
following:

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•

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Compute 
Infrastructure  Equipment. We  procure  specialized  AI  accelerators  and  associated 
components,  including  CPUs  and  high-bandwidth  memory,  through  master  equipment  leases, 
including the 2026 Lease Arrangement, pursuant to which we receive such hardware for deployment in 
dedicated data center facilities operated by others on our behalf. See the section titled “Management’s 
Discussion  and  Analysis  of  Financial  Condition  and  Results  of  Operations—Liquidity  and  Capital 
Resources—Contractual  Obligations—Infrastructure  Equipment  Leases” 
information 
regarding the terms of these leases.

for  more 

Data Centers. In certain of our data center infrastructure arrangements, third-party partners procure 
the underlying real estate, power, and data center facilities, while we lease capacity in those facilities 
and contract with specialized third-party operators for ongoing facility management. For example, we 
have entered into a colocation and services agreement with Fluidstack USA I Inc. (“Fluidstack”), under 
which  Fluidstack  provides  data  center  development  and  operations  services  to  us.  We  have  also 
executed data center leases directly and expect to do so increasingly over time. To secure certain data 
center development projects, which require significant capital commitments in advance of deployment, 
we have in some cases relied, and expect to continue to rely, on arrangements with financing sources or 
partners who guarantee the lease obligations to support the development of data center capacity that is 
expected to host such partner’s chips or computing infrastructure. Our ability to expand compute and 
infrastructure  capacity  through  these  arrangements  in  the  future  may  depend  on  the  continued 
willingness and ability of a limited number of CSPs, partners, and financing sources to enter into and 
perform under them.

Electrical Power. Electrical power procurement requires separate arrangements with utility providers 
or, in some cases, development of behind-the-meter power generation capacity that supplies electricity 
directly to the facility rather than through the broader electric grid. Securing adequate power capacity 
for data center projects, whether through grid-connected or behind-the-meter arrangements, typically 
requires  long  lead  times  and  significant  financial  commitments  well  in  advance  of  when  facilities 
become operational.

Our data center infrastructure projects are currently located primarily in the United States. As we continue to 
expand  our  global  customer  base  and  research  operations,  we  are  pursuing  additional  data  center  capacity 
internationally to support our full range of workloads. 

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