Akamai Technologies has secured an $11.6 billion, seven-year cloud-services commitment from Anthropic, giving the infrastructure company one of the largest AI-related contracts in its history as demand for computing capacity continues to accelerate.
The agreement will use Akamai’s distributed cloud infrastructure and software to support Anthropic’s growing CPU workloads. Akamai said the relationship could expand by another $9 billion, taking the potential total commitment to roughly $20 billion.
The transaction also gives Anthropic warrants that could ultimately represent approximately 5% of Akamai’s outstanding common stock. About 2% is expected to vest in connection with the initial $11.6 billion commitment, while another roughly 3% would be tied to expansion of the relationship.
Akamai estimates approximately $5.5 billion of capital spending will be required to support the initial agreement. The company expects its 2026 capital expenditure to increase by about $1.7 billion as it secures equipment and components, including memory.
The scale of the agreement shows how AI infrastructure spending is moving beyond the largest hyperscale cloud providers.
Anthropic has been aggressively securing computing capacity as it develops increasingly capable artificial-intelligence systems. Akamai, historically known for content delivery and cybersecurity infrastructure, has been expanding its cloud-computing business to capture part of that demand.
Investors reacted sharply. Akamai shares surged about 22% in extended trading following the announcement.
The agreement also demonstrates the increasingly intertwined economics of AI developers and infrastructure providers. Instead of a conventional customer-supplier relationship alone, Anthropic could become a significant Akamai shareholder if the partnership expands.
Markets will now watch how quickly Akamai converts the contract into revenue, whether the additional $9 billion expansion is exercised and how the required capital spending affects cash flow and returns.
