Anthropic Partners With SpaceX and xAI as the Battle for AI Compute Intensifies

By: Aditya | Published: Thu May 07 2026

TL;DR / Summary

Anthropic has formed a surprise partnership to use SpaceX and xAI computing infrastructure to boost its AI capabilities, while Snap Inc. has simultaneously ended its $400 million search integration deal with Perplexity.

Layman's Bottom Line: Anthropic has formed a surprise partnership to use SpaceX and xAI computing infrastructure to boost its AI capabilities, while Snap Inc. has simultaneously ended its $400 million search integration deal with Perplexity.

Introduction

The landscape of artificial intelligence is shifting from a battle of models to a war of infrastructure. In a series of rapid-fire developments, Anthropic has secured a massive compute deal with SpaceX to leverage xAI’s "Colossus" data center power, signaling a new era of pragmatic "coopetition" between industry rivals. This pivot comes as other high-profile AI integrations stumble, highlighted by the abrupt dissolution of the multi-million dollar partnership between Snap and Perplexity AI.

Heart of the story

The AI industry was caught off guard this week by an unexpected alliance: Anthropic, the safety-focused creator of Claude, has signed a deal to utilize computing resources from SpaceX. Specifically, Anthropic will tap into the massive GPU clusters managed by Elon Musk’s xAI. This move is particularly notable given the historical friction between Musk and Anthropic’s founders, who left OpenAI due to disagreements over commercialization and safety.

The impact of this deal was felt immediately. Anthropic announced it is doubling usage limits for "Claude Code"—its specialized tool for developers—for Pro and Max users. This surge in capacity is directly attributed to the new influx of SpaceX-backed compute power. Simultaneously, Anthropic unveiled a "dreaming" feature for its Managed Agents, a background processing capability that allows the AI to synthesize information and optimize workflows while not actively responding to prompts.

While Anthropic expands, others are scaling back. Snap Inc. confirmed that its $400 million agreement to integrate Perplexity’s AI search engine into Snapchat has "amicably ended." The deal, which was announced only last November, was intended to revolutionize how Gen Z interacts with search. However, internal shifts at Snap and Perplexity's ongoing legal pressures from publishers appear to have cooled the enthusiasm for the integration.

Quick Facts / Comparison Section

AI Infrastructure & Partnership Landscape

Feature / Entity	Anthropic (with SpaceX)	Perplexity (with Snap)	xAI (as "Neocloud")
Primary Goal	Scaling Claude Code & Agents	Mobile AI Search Integration	Providing Data Center Power
Current Status	Active & Expanding	Terminated	Pivoting to Infrastructure
Key Resource	xAI "Colossus" GPU Cluster	Natural Language Search	H100/H200 Server Farms
Recent Change	Doubled usage limits	Deal ended May 2026	Shift from models to "Neocloud"

### Quick Facts Box

Claude Code Update: Pro/Max users now have double the 5-hour usage limits.

Snap’s Pivot: The $400M Perplexity deal lasted less than six months in active development.

xAI’s New Role: xAI is increasingly being viewed as a "neocloud" provider, prioritizing data center construction over model exclusivity.

New Feature: Claude Managed Agents can now perform "dreaming" (background task synthesis).

Timeline of Events

November 2025: Snap and Perplexity announce a $400M integration deal.

Early 2026: Anthropic founders begin negotiations for external compute to scale Claude Code.

May 6, 2026 (16:15): Anthropic launches "dreaming" agents and doubles Claude Code limits.

May 6, 2026 (18:28): Details emerge of the Anthropic-SpaceX compute agreement.

May 6, 2026 (21:43): Snap confirms the Perplexity deal has ended.

Analysis

The "neocloud" evolution of xAI suggests that the next phase of the AI boom is less about who has the best chatbot and more about who owns the "digital real estate" to run them. By renting out its massive compute clusters to a direct competitor like Anthropic, xAI is positioning itself as an essential utility provider, similar to how Amazon Web Services (AWS) powers its own rivals.

For Anthropic, the deal is a pragmatic necessity. To keep pace with OpenAI’s GPT-5 development, it needs raw silicon power that its primary backers, Google and Amazon, may not be able to provide in isolation. The addition of "dreaming" capabilities for agents also points toward a shift toward autonomous AI—systems that think in the background to provide more refined outputs, rather than just reacting to user input.

The collapse of the Snap-Perplexity deal, meanwhile, serves as a cautionary tale. It suggests that deep integration of third-party AI into social platforms is fraught with financial and legal risks. As Perplexity faces increasing copyright scrutiny, platforms like Snap may prefer to build in-house or wait for more stable regulatory environments.

FAQs

What does it mean that Claude Agents can "dream"? "Dreaming" refers to a background processing state where the AI agent synthesizes data, checks its own work, and optimizes its strategy for complex tasks without requiring active user intervention or constant prompting.

Why would Anthropic work with Elon Musk’s companies? Despite past differences, Anthropic requires massive amounts of GPU compute to scale its developer tools. SpaceX and xAI currently control some of the world’s most powerful concentrated AI clusters, making them an ideal, if unexpected, infrastructure partner.

Is Snapchat removing all AI features? No. While the Perplexity deal for AI-powered search has ended, Snap continues to develop its own internal AI features, such as "My AI," though it may move away from high-cost external licensing deals.