Anthropic Nears First Quarterly Profit, Pays SpaceX $1.25B Monthly

Artificial intelligence companies are defying sector losses as Anthropic nears first quarterly profit while paying SpaceX $1.25B monthly. The Silicon Review reports on the rare AI profitability milestone and computing arms race.

Anthropic is closing in on its first quarterly operating profit, a rare milestone in the artificial intelligence industry where most companies burn billions without approaching profitability. The San Francisco-based startup behind the Claude AI model expects June quarter sales to reach 10.9 billion, more than double its 4.8 billion revenue from the March quarter, propelling second-quarter operating profit to an expected $559 million.

The artificial intelligence companies landscape has been dominated by massive losses, with industry leaders struggling to offset the enormous costs of model training and deployment. Anthropic's path to profitability stands out. The company spends 71 cents on compute for every dollar of revenue in the first quarter, a ratio expected to fall to 56 cents in the current quarter as efficiency improves.

AI industry trends indicate that demand for coding-focused AI tools is the primary growth driver. Enterprises across sectors are accelerating adoption of Claude for software development and cybersecurity, with some deploying Anthropic's top-shelf model Mythos to unearth vulnerabilities in their code. CEO Dario Amodei acknowledged the pace of growth has become too hard to handle.

The computing power required to sustain this growth comes at a staggering cost. SpaceX's IPO filing revealed that Anthropic has agreed to pay Elon Musk's company 1.25 billion per month through May 2029 for access to its Colossus and Colossus II data center clusters. The deal secures 300 megawatts of computational capacity including over 220,000 NvidiaGPUs, with the total contract value reaching approximately 45 billion.

SpaceX's AI segment, which includes xAI, lost about 2.5 billion from operations in the March quarter. The Anthropic deal allows SpaceX to monetize idle computing capacity, and Elon Musk posted that SpaceX is in discussions with other companies about offering AI compute as a service at significant scale. Either party can terminate the agreement with 90 days' notice, with reduced fees during the initial capacity ramp-up period.

By the fourth quarter of 2026, analysts expect both Anthropic & OpenAI to pursue public listings that could value each above $1 trillion. Anthropic's path to that milestone runs through sustained enterprise demand and continued improvement on its compute-to-revenue ratio, both of which its current projections suggest are within reach.

The Silicon Review's analysis indicates that Anthropic's profitability milestone and the SpaceX compute deal represent two sides of the same coin: AI companies can make money, but only if they secure the staggering computing infrastructure required to compete. The industry is evolving from a winner-take-all model to a mutually dependent ecosystem where even rivals must become partners.

Q: What is Anthropic's expected revenue and profit for the June quarter 2026?
A: Anthropic expects June quarter sales to reach at least 10.9billion, more than double its 10.9 billion, 4.8 billion March quarter revenue, with second-quarter operating profit projected at $559 million.

Q: How much will Anthropic pay SpaceX for computing power?
A: Anthropic has agreed to pay SpaceX 1.25 billion per month through May 2029, securing 300 megawatts of computational capacity including over 220,000 Nvidia GPUs, for a total contract value of approximately 45 billion.

Q: What AI models does Anthropic offer and what are they used for?
A: Anthropic offers Claude AI for software development and programming tasks, and its top-shelf model Mythos for enterprises to unearth vulnerabilities in their code.

Q: How does Anthropic's compute efficiency compare across quarters?
A: In the first quarter, Anthropic spent 71 cents on compute for every dollar of revenue. That ratio is expected to fall to 56 cents in the current quarter as efficiency improves.

Q: Is SpaceX's AI segment profitable?
A: No, SpaceX's AI segment lost about 2.5billionfromoperationsintheMarchquarteronsegmentrevenueof2.5billionfromoperationsintheMarchquarteronsegmentrevenueof818 million.

Q: What is Elon Musk's plan for SpaceX's AI compute business?
A: Musk posted that SpaceX is in discussions with other companies about offering AI compute as a service at significant scale, which would boost its struggling AI segment.