Anthropic to pay Akamai $11.6 billion over seven years in cloud deal
Anthropic will spend $11.6B over seven years on Akamai’s cloud, the biggest deal Akamai ever made, and the contract includes a 5%‑worth warrant for Anthropic.
Why Now
The deal was announced at a TechCrunch event on September 25, 2026, after a prior $1.8B agreement was reported in May.
What Happened
Akamai said the commitment depends on meeting delivery and service‑availability requirements, and either party can terminate under certain conditions. Akamai expects $150‑$300M revenue in 2027, growing to about $1.7B annually by 2028, and will spend $5.5B to build capacity. The contract includes a warrant for 7.7M shares (≈5% of Anthropic) at $111.33 each, vesting 2% after the first payment and unlocking more shares for each additional $3B spent.
Why It Matters
This shows a shift toward CPU‑based AI workloads and gives Akamai a potential equity stake that grows with Anthropic’s spend, altering the typical supplier‑investment model. It also signals Akamai’s confidence in long‑term AI demand and could influence other cloud providers to offer similar warrants.
The Limitation
The deal’s terms are contingent on performance metrics, so the actual spend and revenue may differ from the announced figures.
What You Can Do
Check Akamai’s financial filings to see how the warrant and revenue projections evolve over the next few years.
Source
Read original sourceWhy we picked this
Significant AI infrastructure deal between Anthropic and Akamai.