Anthropic turns to Musk-linked compute as data center fights spread
The Claude maker’s reported Memphis compute deal comes as AI data center projects draw local opposition and online conspiracy claims.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
Anthropic is seeking more computing power from Elon Musk’s SpaceXAI through a deal tied to the Colossus supercomputer in Memphis, CNBC reported. The arrangement shows how demand for advanced AI services is pushing companies toward larger physical infrastructure just as communities are contesting where those systems get built.
CNBC reported that SpaceXAI, formerly xAI before its acquisition by SpaceX, will provide Anthropic with additional capacity from Colossus. Fortune reported that the Memphis facility contains more than 220,000 Nvidia GPUs.
Anthropic said the added capacity would support Claude Pro and Claude Max users, according to Fortune. Those customers have complained about usage caps and limited availability, Fortune reported.
Compute demand meets local resistance
The deal lands amid wider resistance to large AI data center projects. Fortune’s Sharon Goldman reported that Big Tech’s need for computing power has driven construction of large AI facilities, often in rural areas with land and access to high-voltage transmission lines.
In Memphis, demonstrators gathered in April 2025 against a plan by Musk’s xAI to use gas turbines for a new data center, according to a photo caption from The Washington Post via Getty Images cited by Fortune. The protest took place outside Fairley High School before a public comment meeting on the project.
Fortune reported that similar fights have emerged around land use, electricity demand, water consumption, environmental strain and public oversight. Goldman wrote that she had visited communities in Texas, Arizona, Louisiana and Michigan dealing with major AI data center proposals.
One case cited by Fortune involved Saline Township, Michigan, an agricultural community near Ann Arbor. Residents opposed a large OpenAI-Oracle data center project, and the township board initially voted it down, Fortune reported.
The project later moved ahead after the developer sued and the township settled the case, according to Fortune. Construction was allowed to begin less than two months after the original vote, Fortune reported.
Conspiracy claims spread alongside real complaints
Fortune reported that online conspiracy theories about AI data centers are increasingly appearing in groups organized against the projects. Goldman wrote that some posts describe the facilities as surveillance centers, military sites, killing machines or tools for population control.
Other claims cited by Fortune allege that officials are putting data centers on farmland to undermine local food production. Goldman also reported seeing a claim that Nvidia was secretly placing small AI data centers outside new homes to later implant people.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has also linked data centers to his long-running concerns about electromagnetic radiation, Fortune reported. Mainstream scientific bodies say those claims remain unproven, according to Fortune.
Goldman attributed the spread of those theories to a loss of trust in some communities, including frustration with opaque planning, technical language, fast project timelines and decisions that residents believe are being made far from the towns affected. Fortune reported that the industry views AI data centers as future critical infrastructure, while many communities are asking for more say over how that buildout happens.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.