Elon Musk contradicts SpaceX filing on Anthropic's AI compute lease duration

Elon Musk Challenges SpaceX Filing on AI Compute Lease Duration

Elon Musk has publicly disputed the terms of the SpaceX Anthropic deal, claiming the AI compute lease is only a short-term arrangement despite his company's regulatory filing suggesting otherwise. In a post on X, Musk stated that "SpaceX has not committed to leasing Colossus for years," describing it instead as a 180-day lease with a 90-day cancellation notice that either party can invoke thereafter1

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. This statement directly contradicts SpaceX's S-1 filing, which clearly states that Anthropic "has agreed to pay a monthly fee through May 2029"1

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The discrepancy has emerged at a sensitive time, as SpaceX moves forward with its IPO process during what should be a quiet period. The company's regulatory filing on page F-62 explicitly describes the arrangement as Anthropic paying $1.25 billion per month through May 2029 for access to compute capacity from the Colossus AI training data center2

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. This language appears repeatedly throughout the filing on pages F-96, 13, and 146, making it difficult to dismiss as a simple error1

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SpaceX's Need for Flexibility in AI Computing Capacity

Musk clarified that the short-term nature of the xAI compute deal was SpaceX's 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," he explained3

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. This suggests SpaceX wants to maintain flexibility over its AI computing capacity, potentially to support its own xAI operations or to lease to other customers at higher rates.

The timing of Musk's clarification is notable. Last week, he posted on X that SpaceX was in discussions with other companies about "offering AI compute as a service at significant scale"2

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. This indicates SpaceX may be exploring additional revenue streams from its compute infrastructure, which could explain the desire to avoid a long-term commitment to Anthropic despite what the S-1 filing suggests.

Financial Pressures Drive Compute Buildouts Strategy

The confusion over the short-term cancellable lease comes as SpaceX faces significant financial pressures from its AI operations. According to the IPO filing, SpaceX's AI segment lost approximately $2.5 billion from operations in the March quarter, on segment revenue of $818 million2

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. More dramatically, xAI, which was merged with SpaceX last year, recorded a loss of $6.36 billion in 20255

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Ark's Brett Winton highlighted the potential value of the deal, suggesting that if Anthropic is paying about $24 billion per gigawatt of AI computing capacity, and the arrangement lasts around five years, it could generate more than $50 billion in cumulative pre-tax cash flow4

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. However, Musk quickly pushed back, warning "Let's not get carried away. This is a short-term deal"4

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Questions About Material Misrepresentation During Quiet Period

The conflicting statements raise concerns about potential material misrepresentation during SpaceX's quiet period before its IPO. The S-1 filing describes a three-year agreement with specific monthly payments, while Musk characterizes it as essentially a six-month trial with no long-term commitment1

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. While both parties retain a 90-day cancellation notice option, the question remains whether Anthropic has actually committed to paying through May 2029 or merely has the option to do so.

Neither SpaceX nor Anthropic responded to requests for clarification on the actual terms2

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. The deal involves access to more than 300 megawatts of compute capacity from the Colossus 1 center, with Anthropic also expanding the agreement to include computing power from SpaceX's upcoming Colossus 2 center5

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. For SpaceX, leasing out compute represents a way to monetize its infrastructure buildout, especially given that xAI's flagship Grok chatbot severely lags rival offerings from Anthropic and OpenAI in user figures and paid subscriptions5

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SpaceX is headed for a major IPO in June, aiming to raise $75 billion at a valuation between $1.75 trillion and $2 trillion5

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. The ambiguity surrounding this major revenue contract could complicate investor assessments of the company's AI-related revenues and future prospects. Observers will be watching to see whether the SEC takes any action regarding these conflicting statements, though historically such interventions have been rare.