SpaceX rented Colossus 1 to Anthropic because it couldn’t make the data centre work for Grok
SpaceX rented Colossus 1 to Anthropic because it couldn’t make the data centre work for Grok
https://thenextweb.com/news/spacex-colossus-1-technical-problems-rented-anthropic
Publish Date: 2026-06-12 15:24:16
Source Domain: thenextweb.com
Summary:
SpaceX leased its Colossus 1 data center to AI company Anthropic after facing significant technical issues in attempting to utilize it for its own AI model, Grok. Bloomberg revealed that SpaceX experienced latency and connectivity issues across its three data center campuses situated more than 10 miles apart, further complicated by outdated network infrastructure. The failure to properly utilize the facility due to hardware mismatch, specifically the mix of different chip generations at Colossus 1, led SpaceX to capitalize on underutilized resources by renting the facility. Consequently, Anthropic now pays SpaceX $1.25 billion monthly along with Google’s $920 million monthly bill, collectively yielding approximately $2.17 billion per month in compute revenue. This shift has called into question SpaceX’s initial narrative during its IPO, as the company had emphasized the facility’s impressive construction speed but had not adequately engineered it to function as part of a larger AI training cluster. While SpaceX’s CFO assured that the company has not abandoned its Grok project, the product’s declining performance and strong external compute revenue have tempered the urgency to reclaim the data center’s capacity.
Key Points:
- SpaceX encountered significant technical issues with latency and infrastructure mismatch when trying to use Colossus 1 for its own AI model, Grok.
- The mix of different chip generations in Colossus 1 created bottlenecks, affecting its efficiency as part of a cluster.
- SpaceX decided to lease Colossus 1 to Anthropic to generate revenue, as it was underutilized.
- The revenue from the leases with Anthropic and Google now totals approximately $2.17 billion per month, complicating SpaceX’s initial narrative about the facility’s purpose.
- The current underperformance of SpaceX’s Grok makes the reclamation of the data center less urgent.
