Akamai announced that Anthropic will spend $11.6 billion on its cloud infrastructure over seven years, in the largest contract in the company’s history. The new commitment is approximately six times larger than a previous $1.8 billion deal reported in May, but it is not fully guaranteed; it is tied to Akamai meeting conditions related to delivery and service availability, and both parties have the right to terminate the agreement under specified circumstances.
A Massive Deal with Deferred Revenue
Akamai will not generate revenue from the agreement during 2026. Its officials said on a call with investors that revenue will begin in the second half of 2027, ranging from $150 million to $300 million during that year, before reaching an annualized rate of approximately $1.7 billion by the end of 2028.
To provide the required capacity, Akamai expects to spend approximately $5.5 billion, in addition to a $1.7 billion increase in its 2026 capital expenditures to purchase components in advance, including memory.
A Bet on Central Processing Units
The deal differs from most discussions that focus on graphics processors when talking about artificial intelligence infrastructure. Based on the available information, it represents a bet on central processing units (CPUs), the general-purpose processors responsible for tasks such as running code and browsing the web. Demand for them has increased as artificial intelligence agents take on more tasks, but Akamai did not specify the uses Anthropic has planned.
A Potential Stake Linked to Spending
Akamai issued Anthropic a warrant to purchase shares, or a warrant, for preferred non-voting shares convertible into 7.7 million common shares, equivalent to approximately 5% of the company’s outstanding shares, at a price of $111.33 per share. Anthropic is expected to vest approximately 2% after the first payment under the agreement, while the remaining portion is tied to additional spending levels.
Each additional commitment of $3 billion to Akamai services unlocks approximately an additional 1% of the potential stake. As a result, the total value of the deal could rise to approximately $20 billion if the available increases are used.
Why Does This Matter?
The deal shows that the expansion of artificial intelligence laboratories is not limited to purchasing accelerators, but extends to the general computing resources, memory, and cloud capacity needed to operate agents and the services surrounding them. It also reflects an unusual financial model: instead of the infrastructure provider investing directly in its customer, Akamai gives the customer a potential stake in it and links the size of that stake to the amount spent.
This comes in a market that has seen similar circular arrangements between chipmakers, cloud providers, and artificial intelligence laboratories; Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and AMD have invested in Anthropic or agreed to invest in it while simultaneously selling it chips or cloud capacity. AMD had used a similar structure with OpenAI, linked to stages of chip purchases.
Akamai shares rose by as much as 17% in after-hours trading, according to The Wall Street Journal. However, the value of the commitment remains conditional on operational performance and availability requirements, and the specific use of the central processing units has not been disclosed.