Anthropic to Spend $11.6B on Akamai Cloud in Record Deal
Anthropic commits $11.6 billion over seven years to Akamai's cloud infrastructure, the largest deal in Akamai's history, with a warrant tied to spending milestones.
Anthropic has agreed to spend $11.6 billion over seven years on Akamai's cloud infrastructure, according to techcrunch.com. The commitment is more than six times the size of a previously reported $1.8 billion agreement between the two companies and marks the largest deal in Akamai's history.
The agreement depends on Akamai meeting delivery and service-availability requirements, and either company can terminate it under certain conditions. Akamai expects $150 million to $300 million in revenue from the deal in 2027, starting in the second half, and projects revenue to reach an annual pace of about $1.7 billion by the end of 2028.
To support the buildout, Akamai plans to spend about $5.5 billion on capacity and is adding roughly $1.7 billion to this year's capital spending to buy components such as memory in advance.
Warrant ties payout to Anthropic's spending
Akamai issued Anthropic a warrant for nonvoting preferred stock convertible into 7.7 million common shares at $111.33 a share, covering up to about 5% of Akamai's outstanding stock. About 2% is expected to vest once Anthropic makes its first payment, and each additional $3 billion Anthropic commits unlocks roughly another 1%, potentially growing the deal to about $20 billion.
It is the first time Akamai has attached a warrant to a cloud deal. AMD used a similar structure with OpenAI last year, tying warrants to chip-purchase milestones. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and AMD have all invested or agreed to invest in Anthropic while selling it chips or cloud capacity.
Akamai shares rose as much as 17% in after-hours trading on Thursday.
Quick answers
How much is Anthropic spending on Akamai?
Anthropic will spend $11.6 billion over seven years on Akamai's cloud infrastructure.
How big is the deal for Akamai?
It is the largest deal in Akamai's history and more than six times the size of a previously reported $1.8 billion agreement between the two companies.
What are the terms of the warrant Akamai issued to Anthropic?
The warrant is for nonvoting preferred stock convertible into 7.7 million common shares at $111.33 a share, covering up to about 5% of Akamai's outstanding stock. About 2% is expected to vest after Anthropic's first payment, with each additional $3 billion committed unlocking roughly another 1%.