Akamai signs USD $11.6bn cloud deal with Anthropic

Akamai has signed a seven-year agreement worth USD $11.6 billion with Anthropic, centred on cloud infrastructure for Anthropic's CPU workloads.

The agreement also allows Anthropic to increase its spending by up to a further USD $9 billion, taking the total potential commitment to about USD $20 billion.

For Akamai, the contract is one of the largest disclosed commitments tied to its cloud business, as it seeks to expand beyond its long-established content delivery and security operations. The arrangement adds to more than USD $2.8 billion in multi-year Cloud Infrastructure Services commitments announced across its customer base earlier this year.

Anthropic will use Akamai's distributed cloud network and software to support growing demand for CPU-based workloads. Akamai says its platform spans thousands of points of presence and supports compute across core and edge environments.

Warrant structure

Alongside the commercial agreement, Akamai has issued a warrant to Anthropic tied to the relationship's expansion. The warrant covers the purchase of non-voting convertible Series B Preferred Stock representing 7.7 million shares of Akamai common stock on an as-converted basis, equal to up to about 5% of the company's common stock outstanding, at an exercise price of USD $111.33 per share.

A portion of the warrant, representing about 2% of Akamai's common stock outstanding, is expected to vest in connection with the initial USD $11.6 billion commitment. The remaining roughly 3% would vest if Anthropic expands its purchases during the seven-year term, with each additional USD $3 billion in cloud services linked to vesting of about 1% of Akamai's common stock outstanding.

The arrangement carries substantial capital demands. Akamai estimates total capital expenditure related to the initial commitment at about USD $5.5 billion.

It also expects capital expenditure to rise by around USD $1.7 billion in 2026 to secure and pre-purchase key supply chain components, including memory. Akamai does not expect the agreement to affect its 2026 revenue guidance.

Cloud push

The size of the contract is likely to be seen by investors as an important test of Akamai's push into cloud infrastructure, at a time when demand for AI-related computing resources is reshaping spending across the technology sector. While much of the recent surge in AI infrastructure investment has focused on graphics processing for model training, this agreement is aimed at CPU workload growth.

That distinction points to a different part of the AI stack, including the infrastructure needed to run applications and services once deployed. It also suggests Anthropic is seeking distributed computing capacity beyond the largest centralised cloud campuses that have dominated much of the market.

Akamai's network has historically been associated with moving and securing internet traffic close to end users. The company has been using that footprint as the basis for a broader cloud offering, arguing that geographically distributed infrastructure can support newer types of application demand.

"Anthropic is advancing the AI revolution and we are thrilled they chose Akamai's capabilities for building and operating AI infrastructure at scale," said Dr. Tom Leighton, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Akamai.

"Akamai has an unparalleled reputation for helping our customers achieve their business-critical goals and build the future. Our expanding global footprint, combined with our years of experience serving the world's largest enterprises, positions us to be the infrastructure provider for secure and responsible AI applications and workloads," Leighton said.

The financial mechanics of the transaction also stand out. Warrants and equity-linked incentives are not uncommon in large technology infrastructure partnerships, but the scale of the equity component here underscores how closely the commercial relationship is tied to future volume growth.

For Anthropic, the deal provides access to reserved infrastructure over a multi-year period at a time when AI companies are competing for chips, memory and data centre resources. For Akamai, it creates a large anchor customer while requiring heavy upfront spending to secure components and prepare capacity.

Each additional USD $3 billion of cloud services purchased on mutually agreed terms would trigger further warrant vesting of around 1% of Akamai's common stock outstanding.