Anthropic CEO Says Too Little Compute Risks Customers, Excess Threatens Solvency

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says the company must balance advance compute purchases against uncertain AI demand: falling short can cost customers, while overcommitting can threaten solvency.

At the DealBook Summit in December 2025, Amodei described capacity planning as a difficult balance. Data centers and chip orders require commitments years before the company knows how much revenue those resources will produce, while AI demand can shift sharply from year to year.

Anthropic’s Oct. 26 Form S-1 disclosed $900.9 billion in long-term commitments, mostly related to compute and infrastructure, with obligations extending through 2045. The filing lists $70.7 billion due by Sept. 30, 2027.

Compute expenses equaled 48% of revenue in one quarter of 2026, and that share later fluctuated. Amodei has argued for planning around a scenario near the 10th percentile of growth rather than the most optimistic outlook, with the goal of keeping Anthropic solvent if demand falls short. The company has continued expanding its compute capacity, while its long-dated commitments could make it harder to scale back if demand cools.