Together AI Searches for More Office Space in San Francisco

Artificial intelligence infrastructure startup Together AI occupies 10 times the San Francisco office space it first leased in 2023, and now it’s looking for more.

The cloud-computing-centered company tapped JLL to help it find 60,000 to 100,000 square feet, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

Together AI subleases 30,000 square feet at 251 Rhode Island Street from tech company Samsara, but the master lease expires next year. PSAI Realty Partners owns the two-story building, which spans 80,000 square feet in Showplace Square.

The company’s space race mirrors its head count and valuation surge. The 3-year-old firm raised a $305 million Series B round in March at a $3.3 billion valuation and has ballooned from 80 employees last summer to 160 in March and about 250 today.

AI firms now dominate San Francisco’s office leasing market; demand jumped from 6.5 million to nearly 9 million square feet last quarter, per JLL. Eighty-three AI-related leases averaging 16,655 square feet apiece have been signed this year. Most have terms of under three years, as AI companies are wary of scaling too fast.

AI companies have provided the strongest tenant demand since the pandemic, said CBRE’s Alexis Walsh Monsees, who handles leasing for 251 Rhode Island Street.

AI giants OpenAI and Anthropic have been leading the way in gobbling up office space in San Francisco. Sam Altman-led OpenAI now has nearly 1 million square feet of offices in the city and is on the hunt for more space. Last month, Anthropic added another 100,000 square feet of offices at 505 Howard Street, across the street from its 500 Howard Street headquarters, to its collection.

Meanwhile, office distress is still piling up in San Francisco. Los Angeles-based CIM Group was recently hit with a foreclosure lawsuit for 55 Hawthorne Street. Lenders accused the landlord of defaulting on a $61.5 million loan backed by the property after failing to make its monthly payments since the beginning of August.

— Chris Malone Méndez