Anthropic is accelerating efforts to expand its computing capacity.
On September 24, Bloomberg reported that AI developer Anthropic and Akamai had signed a seven-year compute contract worth a total of $11.6 billion, marking another massive deal in the AI computing infrastructure sector.
The deal sets a record as the largest order in Akamai’s history. Under the agreement, Akamai will provide Anthropic with central processing unit (CPU) computing capacity to support the growing demand for its AI services.
As a key part of the transaction, Akamai issued warrants to Anthropic that allow it to purchase Series B shares convertible into common stock. The cloud-services partnership, which incorporates an equity component, has further fueled Wall Street’s concerns over so-called “circular AI deals” across the technology industry.
The partnership is set to significantly reshape Akamai’s business structure. While the company is expected to face substantial capital expenditures, its cloud-computing revenue could surge over the next several years and may soon surpass its traditional cybersecurity and content-delivery businesses.
Record-Breaking Order Reshapes Akamai’s Business
The multibillion-dollar contract has had a direct impact on Akamai’s financial planning.
According to Bloomberg, Akamai expects total capital expenditures related to the Anthropic agreement to reach approximately $5.5 billion, more than six times its full-year spending in 2025.
Akamai CEO Tom Leighton said in an interview that most of the planned capital expenditures required to fulfill the contract will go toward hardware such as servers, chips, and networking equipment, with the bulk of the spending expected to occur next year.
Despite the sharp increase in capital expenditures, the expected returns are substantial. Akamai expects revenue from its Anthropic business to reach between $150 million and $300 million next year.
Leighton said annualized revenue from the business is expected to reach approximately $1.7 billion by 2028. He emphasized that the company’s cloud business is growing at an extremely rapid pace and, if that growth continues, revenue generated by cloud contracts could “soon” surpass that of its other traditional business segments.
Equity Component Draws Wall Street Scrutiny
The contract includes a special equity arrangement.
The warrants issued by Akamai to Anthropic give the AI company the right to purchase Series B shares at $111.33 per share, with the shares convertible into 7.7 million common shares.
Akamai said that warrants representing approximately 2% of its common stock will vest in connection with the compute agreement, which is expected to begin in the second half of next year, while the remaining warrants will vest gradually over the seven-year contract period.
The arrangement has raised concerns among some Wall Street investors. Markets have been increasingly wary of so-called “circular AI deals,” in which cloud-service providers, hardware companies, and AI startups simultaneously purchase products from and invest directly in one another, making it more difficult to gauge underlying demand for AI in the real economy.
Leighton said this is the first time Akamai has agreed to such a warrant arrangement as part of a cloud transaction with a customer. He described it as a significant move that is reasonable under the current circumstances and would help closely align the interests of the two companies.
Anthropic’s Demand for Computing Power Continues to Surge
The $11.6 billion contract builds on an $1.8 billion compute agreement reached by the two companies earlier this year.
In recent months, demand for Anthropic’s Claude software has surged as large numbers of customers have turned to the platform to streamline programming and other workflows.
To meet this rapidly growing demand, the AI developer has embarked on a major computing procurement drive, seeking chips not only from Akamai but also from companies ranging from Google to SpaceX.
The CPUs involved in the agreement are general-purpose chips that are seeing renewed demand as data centers supporting AI services expand.
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