Anthropic Signs $11.6 Billion Akamai Cloud Deal
The seven-year contract can grow to about $20 billion, and it hands Anthropic a warrant for as much as five percent of Akamai's shares.
In short
Anthropic has committed at least $11.6 billion over seven years to compute capacity from Akamai, and in return receives a warrant for up to five percent of Akamai's stock.
At a glance
- Floor of $11.6 billion across seven years, with room to expand to roughly $20 billion.
- Warrant covers 7.7 million common shares, about five percent of Akamai, struck at $111.33.
- Two percent vests early; each extra $3 billion committed unlocks about one more point, up to three.
- Akamai budgets roughly $5.5 billion in capital costs and cites a further $1.7 billion.
- Akamai expects $150 million to $300 million of revenue in 2027 and about $1.7 billion a year by late 2028.
Anthropic will spend at least $11.6 billion with Akamai over seven years, and up to roughly $20 billion if its appetite for capacity keeps growing. What makes the arrangement unusual is the price Akamai is paying to win it: a warrant that could hand Anthropic as much as five percent of Akamai itself.
How the customer becomes a shareholder
TechCrunch describes the instrument as nonvoting preferred stock convertible into 7.7 million common shares, struck at $111.33 apiece. Roughly two percent vests once the first payment lands. Everything above that is earned, not granted.
The mechanism is simple: each additional $3 billion Anthropic commits releases about another percentage point. The Decoder frames the same terms as two percent for the contract signed now, plus three percent more if Anthropic expands the deal by up to $9 billion. Spending more does not just buy servers here — it buys equity.
This is a CPU deal, not an accelerator deal
Per TechCrunch, the capacity in question is general-purpose processors rather than GPUs or TPUs. That tracks with how agentic systems actually run. Calling tools, moving data and checking results are ordinary compute jobs, and they scale alongside the model rather than inside it.
Akamai still has to build the footprint. It puts capital costs at about $5.5 billion and names a further $1.7 billion, against expected contract revenue of $150 million to $300 million in 2027, ramping from the second half, and roughly $1.7 billion annually by the end of 2028.
Eleven months, $517 billion
The two companies had already been linked by a $1.8 billion agreement reported in May 2026. A month before this deal, Anthropic committed to $45 billion of capacity with Nscale. The Decoder totals the compute contracts signed in the past eleven months at $517 billion.
Dario Amodei warned in December 2025 that a modest misjudgment of demand could bankrupt the company. Investors read the Akamai news more cheerfully: the stock climbed sharply after hours, by as much as 17 percent according to TechCrunch and 22 percent according to The Decoder.
What the sources do not settle
TechCrunch notes the agreement depends on Akamai hitting delivery and service-availability requirements, and that either side can walk under defined conditions. The $11.6 billion is a commitment with exits attached, not a locked-in revenue stream.
The two reports also diverge on that extra $1.7 billion: TechCrunch ties it to components, while The Decoder presents it as spending before the end of 2026. Neither source breaks the capacity down by processor type.
FAQ
How much is Anthropic paying Akamai?
At least $11.6 billion over seven years, with the potential to reach about $20 billion if Anthropic commits to more capacity.
What stake in Akamai does Anthropic get?
A warrant for up to five percent, equal to 7.7 million common shares at a $111.33 strike. About two percent vests early and the rest tracks further spending commitments.
Why is an AI company buying CPU capacity?
TechCrunch reports the deal covers general-purpose processors rather than GPUs, reflecting the ordinary compute that AI agents generate around the model itself.
