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Anthropic commits $11.6 billion to Akamai’s cloud; Akamai grants it a warrant for up to 5%

The CPU-focused deal could grow to about $20 billion. Akamai expects about $5.5 billion in capital spending to build the capacity and no revenue from the contract until the second half of 2027.

Motion Media News Staff

Sep 24, 2026

2 minutes

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Akamai Technologies said Thursday, Sept. 24, that Anthropic will spend $11.6 billion on its cloud services over the next seven years, in the largest deal in the company's history, according to TechCrunch.

The contract will support Anthropic's growing CPU workloads using Akamai Cloud's distributed infrastructure and software, Akamai said in its announcement. The agreement allows for up to $9 billion more, for a potential total of about $20 billion. TechCrunch reported that the new figure dwarfs an earlier $1.8 billion arrangement between the companies, reported by Bloomberg in May.

The warrant

In an unusual structure, Akamai issued Anthropic a warrant for non-voting convertible preferred shares that translate into 7.7 million common shares, roughly 5% of the company, exercisable at $111.33 per common share. Around 2% should vest with the initial $11.6 billion commitment. The remaining 3% vests in steps of roughly 1% for each additional $3 billion in cloud purchases.

TechCrunch said the arrangement reverses the more common pattern in which chip and cloud suppliers invest in the AI labs that buy from them, and noted that AMD used a similar warrant structure with OpenAI last year. It was the first time Akamai attached a warrant to a cloud deal, Bloomberg reported, according to TechCrunch.

"Anthropic is advancing the AI revolution and we are thrilled they chose Akamai's capabilities," Akamai co-founder and CEO Tom Leighton said.

Costs and timing

Akamai estimated capital expenditures of about $5.5 billion tied to the commitment. Its 2026 capital budget will rise by roughly $1.7 billion to lock in supplies, including memory, ahead of time, and said the deal will not affect its 2026 revenue guidance.

On an investor call, executives projected 2027 revenue from the contract of between $150 million and $300 million, all in the second half, climbing to a run rate near $1.7 billion a year by late 2028, TechCrunch reported. According to Akamai's securities filing, cited by TechCrunch, the commitment depends on Akamai meeting delivery and service-availability requirements, and either side can end it under certain conditions.

Akamai said it had already announced over $2.8 billion in multiyear cloud contracts with other customers this year. The stock jumped by up to 17% after the close, The Wall Street Journal reported, according to TechCrunch.