Elon Musk’s Anthropic About-Face Raises Questions Over Rivalry, Reliance, and Trust

• From derision to dismissal of Anthropic’s chances
• A multibillion-dollar compute pact in May 2026
• Public reversal: Anthropic as “leader” and Mythos/Fable praised
• Rivalry, reliance, and reputational stakes

Elon Musk’s Anthropic About-Face Raises Questions Over Rivalry, Reliance, and Trust
Elon Musk has turned a former AI punching bag into what he now calls the industry’s frontrunner, even as that rival becomes deeply dependent on his own infrastructure.

§From derision to dismissal of Anthropic’s chances

Throughout late 2023 and into early 2025, Musk repeatedly mocked Anthropic and its Claude models, attacking the company’s culture and prospects. He labeled the firm “smug, sanctimonious and hypocritical” and claimed “winning was never in the set of possible outcomes for Anthropic,” dismissing its chances in the AI race even as it was reported to hold the largest enterprise market share.

§A multibillion-dollar compute pact in May 2026

The relationship shifted in May 2026, when Anthropic signed a deal to rent the full 300 megawatts of compute from xAI’s Colossus 1 data center near Memphis, Tennessee, which had been merged into SpaceX earlier that year. SpaceX’s S-1 filing showed Anthropic agreed to pay $1.25 billion per month through May 2029, a commitment worth about $40 billion, with either side allowed to terminate on 90 days’ notice. Google separately agreed to rent SpaceX infrastructure through June 2029 for $920 million per month, underscoring the scale of Musk’s emerging AI cloud business.

§Public reversal: Anthropic as “leader” and Mythos/Fable praised

By early July 2026, as concerns surfaced on X that Musk could “kill” Anthropic by cutting off compute, he publicly reversed course. Musk wrote that he was “clearly wrong about Anthropic” and declared, “They are obviously currently the leader in AI. No company has released a model as good as Mythos/Fable and they will undoubtedly have Mythos 2 ready soon.”

He further insisted that sabotaging a rival “was not my style,” promising he would “never cut them off in a way that hurt them badly, even as a competitor.” Musk pointed to Tesla’s 2014 patent pledge and the opening of its Supercharger network as evidence that he does not “squeeze” competitors, while continuing to promote his own AI efforts across xAI, Tesla, and the Optimus humanoid robot.

§Rivalry, reliance, and reputational stakes

Analysts say Anthropic’s heavy reliance on a direct rival’s infrastructure creates both strategic risk and leverage. Musk counters that contractual penalties and mutual benefit make arbitrary cutoff unlikely, and public praise of Anthropic’s models now sits alongside social-media celebrations of his broader AI role and reputation.

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