Why Sam Altman is the reason Elon Musk and Dario Amodei sign mega AI deal

Elon Musk and Dario Amodei have entered a strategic partnership between SpaceX and Anthropic, dissolving past tensions to collaborate on AI advancements. SpaceX will provide Anthropic full access to its Colossus 1 data center in Memphis, which houses over 220,000 NVIDIA GPUs and 300 megawatts of power. This deal will double rate limits for Claude Code, eliminate peak-hour restrictions, and raise API limits for enterprise users, significantly enhancing Claude’s capabilities. The collaboration follows a meeting between Musk and Anthropic’s leadership, where Musk publicly expressed approval, stating he was 'impressed' and that 'no one set off my evil detector.' This shift marks a reversal from Musk’s earlier criticism of Anthropic, which he had labeled 'misanthropic' after the company’s $30 billion funding round. The partnership is driven partly by mutual rivalry with OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, whom both Musk and Amodei have publicly opposed in recent years. Anthropic reported an 80x year-over-year growth in revenue and usage in Q1 2026, far exceeding internal projections, creating demand that the new compute access will help address. The companies also plan to jointly develop multiple gigawatts of orbital AI infrastructure using SpaceX’s rocket technology. For SpaceX, the deal monetizes underutilized capacity at Colossus 1 and generates high-margin revenue ahead of its upcoming IPO, strengthening its financial position. For Anthropic, the partnership delivers the scale needed to meet surging demand for Claude while maintaining existing cloud contracts with Amazon, Google, and other providers. The collaboration underscores a strategic alignment between two key players in AI, prioritizing business expansion over historical differences. Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman continues to highlight internal conflicts at that company, further motivating the new alliance.