Anthropic Signs $11.6 Billion Cloud Partnership with Akamai for Seven-Year Collaboration
Akamai announced on Thursday that Anthropic will invest $11.6 billion over the next seven years in its cloud infrastructure. This figure significantly surpasses the previously reported $1.8 billion agreement between the two firms in May. However, the commitment is not guaranteed; Akamai’s securities documents state that it is contingent upon meeting specific delivery and service requirements, and either partner has the option to terminate the agreement under certain circumstances.
This contract marks the largest deal in Akamai’s history and aligns with Anthropic’s continuous demand for computing power. It also highlights a lesser-discussed area of AI infrastructure: CPUs. The need for these general-purpose chips, which perform tasks such as executing code and web browsing, has surged as AI systems expand their capabilities, although Akamai has not specified what Anthropic’s intended use will be.
Akamai does not anticipate any revenue from this agreement in the current year. During an earnings call, company executives projected earnings between $150 million to $300 million in 2027, beginning in the latter half of the year, with revenue progressing to approximately $1.7 billion annually by the end of 2028.
To enhance its infrastructure, Akamai plans to invest about $5.5 billion. Additionally, it will allocate approximately $1.7 billion to this year’s capital expenditures for early procurement of necessary components like memory.
As part of this arrangement, Akamai has provided Anthropic with a warrant, giving it the right to purchase shares at a predetermined price. This includes nonvoting preferred stock which can be converted into 7.7 million common shares, representing roughly 5% of the company’s total stock, priced at $111.33 a share. About 2% of this is expected to become available once Anthropic makes its initial payment, with the remainder contingent upon further spending. For every additional $3 billion Anthropic commits to Akamai’s cloud services, approximately 1% more of the stock becomes accessible, potentially increasing the deal’s total value to about $20 billion.
This is the first instance of Akamai attaching a warrant to a cloud services agreement, and it stands as the largest contract in the company’s history.
This arrangement contrasts with the more typical structure found in AI collaborations, where suppliers, such as chipmakers and cloud providers, directly invest in the AI laboratories purchasing their goods. In this case, the supplier is instead offering its client a possible equity stake that increases with Anthropic’s expenditures. A comparable setup was employed by AMD with OpenAI last year, linking warrants to chip purchase benchmarks.
Anthropic is familiar with such agreements. Companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and AMD have all made investments or agreements with Anthropic while supplying them with chips or cloud services. CEO Dario Amodei mentioned to the New York Times last December that Anthropic does not engage in these arrangements on the same scale as some of its competitors.
Following the announcement, Akamai’s shares surged by as much as 17% in after-hours trading, according to reports.
