Anthropic and OpenAI Seek 20-30MW Compute Deals to Accelerate AI Deployment

Anthropic and OpenAI are in talks to secure compute capacity deals of 20 to 30 megawatts (MW), according to sources cited by CNBC, as the AI labs look to accelerate deployment.

Over the past year, both companies have signed large-scale data center agreements involving hundreds of megawatts or even gigawatts. Now they are also pursuing much smaller capacity arrangements. Four people familiar with the matter said Anthropic has approached parties in the UK and Nordic region for deals in this range. Two sources said OpenAI has been exploring similar small-capacity opportunities in the Nordics. Another source said both companies have also held discussions about capacity in the United States.

Industry insiders note that smaller compute projects can be brought online faster, making them well suited for distributed inference workloads. Unlike large-scale training, which requires tightly coupled clusters of chips, AI inference can be spread across multiple smaller clusters — a shift that is influencing how top AI companies structure their compute procurement.