Anthropic takes over a $3.4 billion order for 1.7GW of Caterpillar gas generators to power its data centers

Anthropic has struck a $3.4 billion deal to generate gas-fired power for its data centers^1,4.

The agreement secures 1.7GW of gas-fired generators, along with the work to install them³. Anthropic is taking over an order for Caterpillar generator sets that had been placed by OnePWR^2,3.

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is providing a guarantee for the deal⁴. The generators are intended to support 1.7GW of data center power². In all, Anthropic is getting 1.7 gigawatts of Caterpillar generators for the $3.4 billion it has agreed to pay^4,5.

How the deal is built

Anthropic chose neither of the two obvious routes. It did not buy an energy company outright, and it did not simply buy the equipment through a new order¹. Instead it took over an order that OnePWR had already placed with Caterpillar².

That differs from the approach of Alphabet, which bought the energy developer Intersect in late 2025¹.

Anthropic’s push to secure generators of its own stems from severe supply shortages⁶. The company has already committed billions of dollars to data center projects around the world⁴. The generator deal adds a $3.4 billion power commitment to that program^4,5.

Why it matters to investors

The deal is a sign of how AI developers are reaching into power generation itself. Anthropic is paying $3.4 billion for gas-fired generators and their installation, not only for computing capacity^1,3.

It also shows how the largest technology groups are backing that spending. Alphabet is standing behind Anthropic’s deal with a guarantee, while it has pursued power assets of its own through the purchase of Intersect^1,4.

For equipment makers, the order is a measure of demand from data centers for gas-fired generation. The deal covers 1.7GW of Caterpillar generator sets^2,5.

For Anthropic, the deal is a large fixed commitment on top of the billions of dollars it has already pledged to data center projects⁴. The purchase was driven by a shortage of generators, and buying an existing order was the way Anthropic chose to get around it^2,6.

What to watch: whether other AI developers take over existing generator orders in the same way, and whether guarantees like Alphabet’s become a common way to finance the power needs of data centers^2,4.