Remember that rumored $45 billion, three-year lease of SpaceX's Colossus supercomputer to Anthropic? Elon Musk says that's not even close to reality.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/2057228707606196434
Musk took to the record to clarify that SpaceX's agreement with Anthropic is a short-term, 180-day rental for the Colossus AI cluster. Either party can terminate the deal with just 90 days' written notice. No multi-year lock-in.
According to Musk, the short-term structure wasn't Anthropic's choice — it was SpaceX's hard requirement. With the global AI compute crunch intensifying, SpaceX needs the flexibility to reclaim its hardware at a moment's notice if internal demand spikes. Musk says he won't leave Anthropic stranded, promising a reasonable transition period, but make no mistake: SpaceX holds all the cards.
Analysts had previously pointed to disclosed monthly payment plans as proof that SpaceX was pivoting to an AI compute-as-a-service (CaaS) model and had effectively minted a $45 billion cash cow. Musk's latest comments suggest otherwise. He's making it clear that compute ownership is non-negotiable strategic sovereignty in the AI arms race — and SpaceX won't become a glorified hardware foundry, locked into a long-term deal with a competitor.