Trump administration is still touting a $50B Anthropic investment amid agency ban

Anthropic’s $50 billion commitment for data-center construction projects in New York and Texas still made it on a list of investments the Trump White House said it helped secure, despite an ongoing feud between the company and the U.S. government.

That tally, which was posted in a release online Sunday and emailed Monday, listed Anthropic’s commitment among dozens of other private-sector investments related to American manufacturing, energy, and AI infrastructure projects that companies have announced during President Donald Trump’s second term. Other investments on that list include those from Apple, Meta, Nvidia and Amazon.

Anthropic’s inclusion comes after a disagreement between the AI company and the Pentagon over guardrails for using its technology culminated in a governmentwide ban against the company and the DOD’s determination that it’s a “supply-chain risk.” Ironically, the White House release introduces the list with a statement that companies are moving to “strengthen domestic supply chains,” among other things.

FedScoop contacted spokespeople at the White House and Anthropic, but neither provided comment before publication of this story. Anthropic’s partner on the project, Fluidstack, didn’t respond to a FedScoop request for comment. 

Alan Rozenshtein, an associate professor of law at the University of Minnesota and former attorney advisor in the Justice Department’s National Security Division, told FedScoop it’s not necessarily inconsistent for the Trump administration to tout the investment in the current moment, but it is “weird.”

“Usually the government does not say ‘company X is supply chain risk, but … isn’t it great that they’re investing so much in the local economy?’” Rozenshtein said. 

The Claude maker announced the $50 billion investment in November as a move that would bolster computing infrastructure in America. That investment was aimed at building custom-built data centers for Anthropic in Texas and New York, with more sites expected. Anthropic estimated the project would create 800 permanent and 2,400 construction jobs. 

At the time, the company said the move would “help advance the goals in the Trump administration’s AI Action Plan to maintain American AI leadership and strengthen domestic technology infrastructure.” 

But that was a very different time for the relationship between the AI developer and the Trump administration. 

On Monday, Anthropic took anticipated legal action in response to the Trump administration’s moves, filing two lawsuits against the Pentagon and other government agencies and officials. 

Those challenges included allegations that the Trump administration flouted administrative procedure law, violated the company’s First Amendment rights, and acted outside of existing statute. Anthropic asked the court to take immediate action to halt those activities in addition to other relief, arguing its business has already faced irreparable harm as a result of the actions. 

The government has yet to respond to those challenges in court.