Anthropic's IPO Filing Warns That Data Centers Competing for Natural Gas 'Could Drive Up the Price' in Some Areas, and Promises No Cap on Gas Costs the Way It Did for Electricity
The warning is in the company's S-1, filed Monday. Anthropic has pledged to cover electricity increases it causes but made no similar promise on gas. An industrial energy group says pipelines are already limiting supply.
The AI company's own stock-offering paperwork flags a risk to household and factory energy costs, the Daily Caller News Foundation reports.
The warning. In its Form S-1, filed with the SEC on Monday, Anthropic wrote that as data center operators lean on gas-fired power, "we expect increased competition among users for the same natural gas supply and pipeline capacity." It added: "This competition could drive up the price of natural gas in such areas and may adversely affect our ability to contract for firm fuel supply." Some of its planned sites will use on-site gas generators, and it pays fuel at those sites "on a pass-through basis without cost caps." It also said it may be unable to secure gas, which could cause a planned site to be "delayed or abandoned."
The gap in its pledges. The filing repeats a public commitment to cover electricity price increases its data centers cause for consumers, including the infrastructure needed to deliver the power. The Daily Caller notes the filing makes no similar commitment on natural gas. Anthropic did not respond to a request for comment.
The timeline. The first confidential draft, submitted June 1, mentioned fuel price volatility but not competition raising prices. The competition warning first appears in a Sept. 4 draft, according to SEC records the Daily Caller cites.
The outside view. Paul Cicio, president of the Industrial Energy Consumers of America, said pipelines are already issuing operational flow orders that limit how much gas manufacturers can receive, "despite warm weather." He urged Congress to pass the Senate's energy permitting bill. RBC Capital Markets forecasts data center gas use reaching about 6.1 billion cubic feet a day by 2030, which RBC says could be a nearly 20 percent increase over the average amount burned for power in recent years.
The bill. The Ratepayer Protection Act passed the House 417 to 3 in September and fell three votes short of advancing in the Senate on Sept. 30. It would require states and utilities to consider standards making big data centers pay for the power they cause to be built, not to adopt them. Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, is looking for another route, including permitting legislation.
Note for readers: this builds on our earlier reports on Anthropic's prospectus, which focused on revenue and spending. A warning in a risk section is a disclosure, not a forecast that prices will rise.