数据中心对私营天然气电厂的依赖，是 Anthropic 面临的一项关键近期风险。该公司在周一的首次公开募股（IPO）招股说明书中警告称，数据中心天然气电厂的建设热潮可能会推高部分地区的价格，从而影响其人工智能雄心以及全美其他数据中心运营商。
Data centers’ reliance on private natural gas plants is a key near-term risk to Anthropic. In the company’s IPO filing on Monday, it warned that the data center gas buildout could drive prices higher in some regions, affecting its AI ambitions and other data center operators around the country.
随着美国数据中心热潮持续升温，这些设施将消耗惊人的天然气量，许多公司选择自建电厂，而非等待数年接入电网。能源分析公司 Cleanview 估计，截至 2026 年 10 月，在建的“用户侧”天然气项目达 110 吉瓦，而 2025 年 7 月仅为 20 吉瓦。
As America’s data center boom keeps growing, the facilities are set to consume a staggering amount of natural gas, with many companies opting to build their own plants rather than wait years for grid connection. Energy analyst company Cleanview estimates that behind-the-meter gas projects in development as of October 2026 at 110 gigawatts, up from just 20 gigawatts in July of 2025.
Anthropic 在招股说明书中写道，来自其他天然气发电数据中心的竞争，可能使其面临“我们无法控制的燃料价格波动和供应中断”，并“可能推高此类地区的天然气价格，并可能对我们签订确定性燃料供应合同的能力产生不利影响”。天然气需求的激增叠加在本已紧张的天然气市场之上。出于地缘政治冲突和联邦政府支持出口等多种原因，美国出口终端正向海外输送更多天然气。预计未来十年出口需求将翻倍。
Competition from other natural gas-fired data centers could leave Anthropic exposed to “fuel price volatility and supply disruptions that are outside of our control,” the company wrote in its IPO filing, and “could drive up the price of natural gas in such areas and may adversely affect our ability to contract for firm fuel supply.”The surge in demand for gas comes on top of an already tight market for natural gas. US export terminals are sending more gas abroad for a variety of reasons, including geopolitical conflicts and federal support for exports. Export demand is expected to double over the next decade.
即便如此，即便管道中的项目仅有一部分建成，数据中心也可能增加大量需求。彭博新能源财经（BloombergNEF）估计，仅并网数据中心到 2035 年就可能每天新增 150 亿立方英尺的天然气需求，使总需求增加 15%。加上管道中在建场内天然气产能的保守估计，到下一个十年每天还将再增加 30 亿立方英尺。
Still, data centers could add a hefty chunk of demand, even if just some of what’s in the pipeline is built. BloombergNEF estimates that grid-connected data centers alone could add an additional 15 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas demand by 2035, a 15 percent increase in overall demand. Adding on a conservative estimate of onsite gas capacity in the pipeline would add another 3 billion cubic feet per day by the next decade.
Anthropic 传统上依赖从主要云服务提供商租赁算力。首次公开募股（IPO）文件中具体点名了亚马逊、谷歌、微软和 SpaceX。（Anthropic 正从后者位于田纳西州孟菲斯的 Colossus 数据中心租赁服务器空间，该数据中心因依赖无许可燃气轮机而面临诉讼。）但该公司近几个月来转向直接租赁和开发数据中心，旨在减少对其他科技巨头的依赖，并更直接地控制自己的数据中心。
Anthropic has traditionally relied on renting compute from major cloud service providers. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and SpaceX are specifically named in the IPO. (Anthropic is renting server space from the latter’s Colossus data centers in Memphis, Tennessee, which is facing a lawsuit for relying on unpermitted gas turbines.) But the company has moved in recent months to directly lease and develop data centers, in a bid to lessen its reliance on other tech giants and more directly control its own data centers.
IPO 文件特别提到了去年宣布的与 Fluidstack 达成的 500 亿美元合作伙伴关系，该合作“为公司提供数据中心开发和运营服务”。公司已宣布在得克萨斯州和纽约州设立数据中心选址。
In the IPO, it singles out its $50 billion partnership with Fluidstack, announced last year, which “provides data center development and operations services” for the company. It has announced data center sites in Texas and New York.
然而，这样做也使其面临更多风险，包括天然气价格上涨。该公司还与在路易斯安那州、得克萨斯州和西弗吉尼亚州等地理位置分散的州开发配备大型现场燃气项目的数据中心有关联。根据开发商 Nscale 自身的 IPO 文件，后者最终可能成为美国最大的燃气电厂之一。
Doing so, though, exposes it to more risks, including the rises in natural gas prices. The company has also been tied to developing data centers with major on-site gas projects in states as spread out as Louisiana, Texas, and West Virginia. The latter could eventually be among the largest gas plants in the US, according to developer Nscale’s own IPO filing.
其数据中心的地理分布使 Anthropic 面临区域性天然气供应冲击和市场波动。这在东南部尤为明显，那里的项目将不得不与液化天然气（LNG）出口竞争。
The geographical dispersion of its data centers opens Anthropic up to regional gas supply shocks and markets. That’s particularly true in the Southeast, where projects will have to compete with LNG exports.
彭博新能源财经（BNEF）美洲天然气研究主管恩里克·冈萨雷斯（Enrique Gonzalez）表示：“如果你开始看到天然气在路易斯安那州和得克萨斯州变得更贵，那不会令人惊讶，因为所有的 LNG 项目都集中在那里。”
“It wouldn’t be surprising if you start to see gas start to get more expensive in Louisiana and Texas, where all the LNG projects are concentrated,” says Enrique Gonzalez, BNEF’s head of gas research for the Americas.
得克萨斯州也是全美“用户侧”数据中心开发的热点地区，这让多家开发商陷入对同一份、且可能有限的天然气供应的竞争之中。Anthropic 在其首次公开募股（IPO）招股说明书中承认了这一风险，写道：“我们预计，在这些地区，用户之间为争夺同一份天然气供应和管道输送能力的竞争将加剧。这种竞争可能会推高这些地区的天然气价格，并可能对我们签订确定性燃料供应合同的能力产生不利影响。”
Texas is also the national hotspot for behind-the-meter data center development, putting multiple developers in competition for the same, potentially limited gas supply. Anthropic acknowledges this risk in its IPO filing, writing that “we expect increased competition among users for the same natural gas supply and pipeline capacity in those areas. 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.”
天然气供应的任何紧张都可能波及家庭能源账单价格。Gonzalez 认为，天然气生产商已经从 2022 年的能源危机中吸取了教训，当时高昂的天然气价格刺激了产量增加，进而导致价格回落。虽然未来几年市场不太可能出现那种极端情况，但他表示：“如果枢纽价格上涨，除非有立法干预，否则有可能转嫁给消费者。”
Any strain on gas supply could have knock-on prices for home energy bills. Gonzalez thinks that natural gas producers learned their lesson from the energy crisis of 2022, when high gas prices caused production to increase, in turn knocking down prices. While markets are unlikely to be that extreme in the coming years, “if hub prices rise, there’s a chance—unless you have legislation—that it goes to consumers,” he says.
当然，一种解决办法是转向可再生能源，这还具有零碳排放的额外气候效益。但 Anthropic 在其招股说明书中仅提及一次可再生能源，而且是为了予以否定。招股说明书称：“较新的发电来源，如太阳能、风能、电池储能、核能和地热能，可能无法按我们所需的数量或时间表提供，或者可能仅以更高的成本提供。”
One solution for this is, of course, to look at renewables, which also have the added climate benefit of being carbon-free. But Anthropic mentions them once in its IPO filing, and only to dismiss them. “Newer sources of generation, such as solar, wind, battery storage, nuclear, and geothermal power, may not be available in the quantities or on the timelines we require, or may be available only at higher cost,” the prospectus states.