Anthropic to pay Akamai $11.6 billion over seven years in cloud deal
Anthropic agreed to spend $11.6 billion over seven years on Akamai's cloud infrastructure, a partnership that could expand to about $20 billion if Anthropic increases its commitments. Akamai also issued Anthropic a warrant for up to roughly 5% of its common stock tied to Anthropic's spending milestones.
Why It Matters
The pact is the largest in Akamai's history and signals rising enterprise demand for CPU-based cloud capacity as AI workloads proliferate. The deal's equity-linked structure — a warrant that vests as spending increases — is an uncommon arrangement that aligns customer spending with potential ownership upside.
Key Facts
- Initial commitment: $11.6 billion over seven years
- Potential total: Could grow by about $9 billion to roughly $20 billion
- Warrant details: Right to buy nonvoting preferred convertible into 7.7 million common shares (~5%) at $111.33 per share
- Vesting: About 2% vests after Anthropic's first payment; each additional $3 billion in spend unlocks roughly another 1%
- Akamai expected revenue timeline: $150 million to $300 million in 2027 (starting in H2); ~ $1.7 billion annual run-rate by end of 2028
Anthropic has committed to spending $11.6 billion with Akamai over seven years for cloud infrastructure, according to Akamai’s filing. The agreement, which Bloomberg previously reported in a smaller $1.8 billion form in May, is contingent on Akamai meeting specified delivery and service-availability conditions and allows either party to terminate under certain circumstances.
The contract is the largest in Akamai’s history and represents an investment in CPU-based capacity rather than the more publicized GPU market. Akamai did not disclose how Anthropic intends to use the CPUs, but said demand for general-purpose processors has risen as AI agents assume more varied tasks.
Akamai does not expect to recognize revenue from the deal this year. Company executives told investors they anticipate $150 million to $300 million of related revenue in 2027 beginning in the second half, and that spending could reach an annual pace of about $1.7 billion by the end of 2028. To support the buildout, Akamai plans roughly $5.5 billion in spending and is adding about $1.7 billion to this year’s capital expenditures to pre-buy components like memory.
In an unusual equity-linked component, Akamai issued Anthropic a warrant for nonvoting preferred stock convertible into 7.7 million common shares, about a 5% stake at an exercise price of $111.33 per share. Roughly 2% of that stake is slated to vest once Anthropic makes its first payment; the remainder vests as Anthropic increases its purchases, with about 1% unlocking for each additional $3 billion committed. That structure flips a common pattern in AI deals where suppliers take stakes in buyers; here the supplier is granting the buyer a potential ownership interest that grows with spending. Similar warrant-linked milestones were used by AMD in a deal with OpenAI last year.
Anthropic has previously engaged in arrangements with major cloud and chip providers, including Amazon, Google, Microsoft and AMD. Akamai’s shares jumped in after-hours trading following the announcement, and the company called the arrangement its largest-ever contract.
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