Anthropic warns natural gas competition could raise costs

Anthropic says competition for electricity and powered data center sites is intense as it expands computing capacity for artificial intelligence. In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission as it prepares to go public, the company said it is increasingly relying on natural gas to meet data centers’ power needs.

Many developers are installing gas-fired turbine generators because the US grid cannot keep pace with data center requests for new connections, according to TechRadar. Anthropic said this competition could drive up natural gas prices. The company also said climate change-related increases in global temperatures could add to operating costs, while fossil fuel price swings linked to conflict in the Middle East pose another cost risk.

Anthropic warned that requiring developers to cover new grid infrastructure and related price increases “could adversely affect our cost structure and limit our ability to scale our compute infrastructure, develop and deploy our models, and service our customers.” The company said securing electricity and suitable data center locations is already difficult.

The article reports that opposition to new US data centers crosses party lines, citing a survey in which two-thirds of Americans said they oppose new facilities. It links the issue to the November 2026 midterm elections and voter concerns about energy costs. The filing’s statements describe potential risks; they do not establish how much natural gas Anthropic will use or how costs will change.