Anthropic commits $11.6B over seven years to Akamai cloud capacity, with an option on up to 5%

Anthropic has agreed to spend $11.6 billion over seven years on cloud services from Akamai Technologies, under an expanded agreement the two companies announced on September 24, 2026. The commitment covers dedicated computing capacity and related managed support services for Anthropic's CPU workloads, and it gives the AI developer an option to take a stake of up to about 5% in Akamai. Shares of Akamai rose more than 17% in after-hours trading following the announcement, Reuters reported.

A seven-year commitment for CPU capacity

Akamai said the multi-year deal is designed to support Anthropic's accelerating CPU workload demands through Akamai Cloud's distributed AI infrastructure and software. The commitment was set out in two project plans the companies entered on September 18, 2026, under a master services agreement dated May 5, 2026. Each plan runs for an initial seven years from its own service start date, and the total commitment depends on delivery and service availability requirements being met.

A warrant for up to 5% of Akamai

As part of the deal, Akamai issued Anthropic a warrant for non-voting convertible Series B preferred stock representing 7.7 million common shares on an as-converted basis, or up to about 5% of Akamai's common stock outstanding, at an exercise price of $111.33 per common share. A portion equal to about 2% of shares outstanding is expected to vest with the announced commitment; the remaining roughly 3% vests as Anthropic expands its purchases, at about 1% for each additional $3 billion of cloud services.

Akamai said the transaction provides for potential expansion of up to an additional $9 billion, which would bring the total potential commitment to approximately $20 billion. That extra spending is an option rather than part of the initial commitment.

Costs and the market reaction

Akamai estimates capital expenditures related to the $11.6 billion commitment at about $5.5 billion. The company said it expects no impact on its 2026 revenue guidance, and an increase of about $1.7 billion in 2026 capital spending to secure and pre-purchase critical supply-chain components, including memory. The agreement adds to more than $2.8 billion in multi-year Cloud Infrastructure Services commitments Akamai's customers made earlier in 2026.

"Anthropic is advancing the AI revolution and we are thrilled they chose Akamai's capabilities for building and operating AI infrastructure at scale," said Dr. Tom Leighton, Akamai's co-founder and chief executive.