Akamai Technologies has signed a seven-year computing agreement worth $11.6 billion with Anthropic, the developer of the Claude AI model. The contract provides computing power and infrastructure services, with an optional expansion that could add another $9 billion over the agreement period, potentially bringing the total to more than $20 billion.
Akamai stock jumped 17% to $130 in late trading following the announcement. The company expects to spend approximately $5.5 billion in capital expenditures to support the initial contract, with additional spending of roughly $1.7 billion planned for 2026. Akamai intends to pre-purchase hardware components such as memory to secure capacity ahead of increased demand.
Equity Component
As part of the arrangement, Akamai issued Anthropic a warrant for non-voting convertible Series B preferred stock. The warrant covers shares equivalent to approximately 7.7 million Akamai common shares at an exercise price of $111.33 per share. If fully exercised, the position would represent about 5% of Akamai's outstanding common stock.
The equity package vests in stages tied to cloud spending levels. Stock equal to roughly 2% of Akamai's outstanding shares is expected to vest from Anthropic's initial $11.6 billion commitment. An additional 3% stake could vest if Anthropic spends an extra $9 billion during the seven-year warrant period, with additional 1% stakes unlocking for every $3 billion in additional cloud services purchased.
Broader Context
The Anthropic deal builds on Akamai's growing cloud infrastructure business. The company had already announced more than $2.8 billion in multiyear cloud infrastructure commitments from other customers this year to support large AI workloads.
Akamai expects the new contract to have no impact on its 2026 revenue guidance. CEO Dr. Tom Leighton stated that Anthropic's selection of Akamai reflects the company's global network capabilities and experience supporting large-scale AI infrastructure with security requirements.
Anthropic Governance Changes
The infrastructure deal coincides with governance changes at Anthropic. The company is preparing for a possible initial public offering and seeking shareholder approval for a voting structure that would give CEO Dario Amodei and six co-founders 50.1% of total voting power through a separate class of shares. This arrangement would continue as long as at least three of the seven founders maintain a required minimum shareholding.
Anthropic currently has a $965 billion post-money valuation following a $65 billion funding round in May.
