Anthropic committed $11.6 billion over seven years to Akamai Technologies’ cloud services under an agreement announced on 24 September, with scope to expand the commitment to about $20 billion, Akamai said. The company also issued Anthropic a warrant to buy an equity stake of up to approximately 5%.
Key points
- Akamai says additional cloud purchases of up to $9 billion could expand Anthropic’s commitment to about $20 billion.
- The warrant’s remaining approximately 3% stake vests in stages tied to additional purchases, Akamai says.
- Akamai estimates approximately $5.5 billion in related capital expenditure and expects no change to its 2026 revenue guidance.
Akamai’s seven-year cloud commitment
Akamai says the contracted capacity will support growth in Anthropic’s CPU workloads using its distributed cloud infrastructure and software. The company said the agreement builds on more than $2.8 billion in multi-year Cloud Infrastructure Services commitments across its customer base that it had announced earlier in 2026.
Anthropic could purchase up to a further $9 billion in cloud services during the relationship, according to Akamai. The company describes that amount as a potential expansion, rather than part of the initial $11.6 billion commitment. At full expansion, Akamai puts the potential commitment at approximately $20 billion.
Akamai co-founder and chief executive Tom Leighton said Anthropic chose the company for its ability to build and operate AI infrastructure at scale. Akamai says its cloud platform uses hardware distributed across thousands of points of presence, with capacity extending from core computing sites to the network edge.
The two companies signed project plans for dedicated AI cloud capacity and managed services under a master services agreement on 18 September, TradingView reported in its account of an Akamai filing. TradingView said the plans carry initial seven-year terms.
Anthropic’s warrant rises with purchases
Akamai says the warrant allows Anthropic to purchase non-voting convertible Series B Preferred Stock. On an as-converted basis, it represents 7.7 million Akamai common shares, or up to approximately 5% of common stock outstanding. The exercise price is $111.33 per common share.
A portion representing approximately 2% of Akamai’s common stock outstanding is expected to vest with Anthropic’s initial $11.6 billion commitment, the company says. The remaining approximately 3% would vest as Anthropic expands its commitment by up to $9 billion within the warrant’s seven-year term.
Each additional $3 billion purchase of cloud services would vest approximately 1% of Akamai’s common stock outstanding, according to the company. Akamai says those purchases would be made on terms agreed by both sides. Anthropic’s access to the full warrant is therefore tied to further cloud purchases, while Akamai bears the cost of preparing capacity for the contracted demand.
Akamai estimates $5.5 billion in capital expenditure
Akamai estimates total capital expenditure related to the initial $11.6 billion commitment at approximately $5.5 billion. Akamai expects to increase its 2026 capital spending by approximately $1.7 billion to secure and pre-purchase critical components, including memory, for the agreement.
Akamai signed a three-year hardware and services agreement with Lenovo, accompanied by a seven-year statement of work, on 23 September and authorised Jabil to procure about $1.7 billion of memory components on 24 September, TradingView reported. The arrangements concern hardware supply and server manufacturing for Akamai’s cloud expansion.
Akamai says it anticipates no change to its 2026 revenue guidance from the Anthropic agreement. Its planned increase in capital expenditure falls in 2026, while Anthropic’s initial cloud commitment runs over seven years.
Akamai shares rose 16% in extended trading on 24 September following the announcement, Reuters reported.
