Anthropic signs $11.6 billion cloud deal with Akamai

Artificial intelligence company Anthropic agreed to a seven-year cloud services commitment valued at $11.6 billion with Akamai Technologies. The deal supports Anthropic's CPU computing workloads across Akamai Cloud's distributed infrastructure. The arrangement includes provisions that could expand the relationship by up to an additional $9 billion, bringing the potential total commitment to approximately $20 billion depending on whether expansion options are exercised.

As part of the contract, Akamai issued Anthropic a warrant covering non-voting convertible Series B preferred stock. The warrant represents up to approximately 5% of Akamai's outstanding common shares, with vesting tied to contract milestones over the seven-year term.

To support the cloud commitment, Akamai expects approximately $5.5 billion in total capital expenditure. Akamai also disclosed a hardware supply deal covering roughly $1.7 billion of memory components with Lenovo and contract manufacturer Jabil.

Following the announcement, shares of Akamai rose 21.3% in premarket trading. TD Cowen raised its price target on Akamai to $149 while keeping a Hold rating, noting that the deal highlights computing capacity constraints for artificial intelligence workloads. Akamai's shares traded above their 52-week low of $70.82, while its 52-week high stood at $165.45.