Anthropic to pay Akamai $11.6 billion over seven years in cloud deal
News Source
β’Fri, 25 Sep 2026 19:13:38 +0000
π° What Happened
Anthropic has agreed to pay Akamai $11.6 billion over seven years for cloud services. Akamai said this is the largest deal in its history.
It is more than six times bigger than an earlier $1.8 billion deal between the two companies reported in May. The money is not guaranteed. Akamai must meet certain delivery and service promises, and either side can end the deal.
π The Backstory
Anthropic makes the Claude AI models and needs huge amounts of computing power. It has already taken money and chips from Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and AMD.
Akamai is better known for speeding up websites than for AI. This deal focuses on CPUs, the everyday chips that run code and browse the web. AI agents are doing more tasks now, so demand for those chips is rising.
π― Why It Matters
Big AI companies now spend billions just to keep their tools running. These deals shape who controls computing power, which can affect prices and choices for everyone online.
Anthropic has agreed to pay Akamai $11.6 billion over seven years for cloud services. Akamai said this is the largest deal in its history.
It is more than six times bigger than an earlier $1.8 billion deal between the two companies reported in May. The money is not guaranteed. Akamai must meet certain delivery and service promises, and either side can end the deal.
Anthropic makes the Claude AI models and needs huge amounts of computing power. It has already taken money and chips from Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and AMD.
Akamai is better known for speeding up websites than for AI. This deal focuses on CPUs, the everyday chips that run code and browse the web. AI agents are doing more tasks now, so demand for those chips is rising.
Big AI companies now spend billions just to keep their tools running. These deals shape who controls computing power, which can affect prices and choices for everyone online.