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Tokyo, September 27, 2026 – Akamai Technologies has signed a sweeping US$14.8 billion cloud services agreement with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, marking one of the largest infrastructure commitments in the sector.
The seven year deal not only secures Anthropic’s access to Akamai’s computing resources but also grants the AI firm warrants to purchase up to a 5 percent stake in Akamai, underscoring the deepening ties between cloud providers and frontier AI labs.
Under the terms, Anthropic will spend US$11.6 billion on Akamai’s cloud services, with the option to expand by an additional US$9 billion.
In return, Anthropic receives warrants for 7.7 million Akamai shares at US$111.33 each, potentially giving it a significant equity position.
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The announcement sent Akamai’s stock surging 22 percent in extended trading, reflecting investor enthusiasm for the company’s pivot toward AI driven infrastructure.
The deal comes as Anthropic accelerates its preparations for an initial public offering.
The startup, founded by former OpenAI researchers, has aggressively secured computing capacity to train its advanced AI models.
Earlier this year, it inked a US$45 billion agreement with Nscale to build out a massive data center campus in West Virginia.
Together with Akamai’s commitment, Anthropic is positioning itself as a formidable rival in the race to dominate generative AI.
For Akamai, the agreement represents a strategic bet on the durability of AI workloads.
The company will allocate US$5.5 billion in capital expenditures to meet Anthropic’s needs, including US$1.7 billion in 2026 alone.
While Akamai has not revised its revenue forecasts, analysts note that the deal secures a long term anchor client and expands its portfolio of multi year infrastructure contracts, which now exceed US$2.8 billion in 2026.
The partnership also highlights the escalating costs of competing in frontier AI. Anthropic’s commitments totaling more than US$60 billion across multiple providers underscore the capital intensity of training large scale models.
Analysts caution that while investor excitement is high, profitability will depend on sustained adoption of AI applications and careful management of risks associated with increasingly autonomous systems.
Still, the warrant arrangement signals confidence in the sector’s trajectory.
By tying Anthropic’s success to Akamai’s equity, both companies are betting that the AI boom will reshape the economics of cloud computing.
As Anthropic edges closer to its IPO, the deal cements Akamai’s role as a critical infrastructure partner in the next phase of artificial intelligence.
