Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company behind the Claude, announced Wednesday it has signed an agreement to use the full compute capacity of the Colossus 1 supercomputer facility in Memphis.
The agreement gives Anthropic access to more than 300 megawatts of computing power and more than 220,000 NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs) housed at the Southwest Memphis facility. Colossus 1 was developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, now operating under the SpaceXAI name.
We’ve agreed to a partnership with @SpaceX that will substantially increase our compute capacity.
This, along with our other recent compute deals, means that we’ve been able to increase our usage limits for Claude Code and the Claude API.
— Claude (@claudeai) May 6, 2026
“We’ve signed an agreement with SpaceX to use all of the compute capacity at their Colossus 1 data center,” Anthropic said in a statement. “This gives us access to more than 300 megawatts of new capacity within the month. This additional capacity will directly improve capacity for Claude Pro and Claude Max subscribers.”
Memphis Mayor Paul Young said he “welcomes” Anthropic to the city, noting how the AI company will become the “sole tenant” of Colossus 1 while SpaceXAI continues to own and operate the facility.
Young added, “What excites me is a conversation I had with Anthropic’s team, where they expressed genuine interest in becoming a great neighbor in Memphis, not just a tenant.”
Anthropic head of public policy Sarah Heck also said the company plans to continue discussions with Memphis residents and elected leaders.
“We’re excited for continued engagement with community members and elected officials in Memphis,” Heck said. “What we hear will shape our approach as a neighbor.”
Colossus 1 went live in 2024 after xAI converted the former Electrolux factory in Southwest Memphis into a large-scale artificial intelligence data center campus. The company later expanded operations in Memphis through additional facilities, including the nearby Colossus 2 project.
In announcing its partnership with Anthropic, SpaceXAI also said the company behind Claude expressed interest in partnering on future “orbital AI compute capacity” projects involving multiple gigawatts of computing infrastructure deployed in space.
“The compute required to train and operate the next generation of these systems is outpacing what terrestrial power, land, and cooling can deliver on the timelines that matter,” SpaceXAI said in its announcement.
SpaceXAI added that space-based computing could eventually provide access to large-scale sustainable power if engineering challenges can be solved.
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X.
