Akamai has signed cloud agreements under which Anthropic committed to pay about $11.6 billion over seven years for dedicated computing capacity and support. Akamai says the capacity will serve Anthropic’s growing CPU workloads on its distributed cloud network.
The two project plans were signed September 18 under a master services agreement the companies reached in May, according to Akamai’s securities filing. Each plan runs for seven years from the start of its services. Anthropic’s payment commitment depends on Akamai meeting delivery and availability requirements; the $11.6 billion is contracted value, not revenue already earned.
Akamai expects service under the new plans to begin late in the second quarter of 2027. It projects $150 million to $300 million in revenue from them that year, rising to an annual rate of roughly $1.7 billion by the end of 2028. The schedule and revenue figures are company forecasts.
To deliver the contract, Akamai estimates capital spending of $5.5 billion. It expects about $1.7 billion of that spending in 2026, chiefly to secure components before service begins.
Akamai has authorized manufacturer Jabil to buy approximately $1.7 billion of memory components, according to its filing. It also signed a hardware supply agreement with Lenovo. The new deal does not change Akamai’s 2026 revenue guidance.
Akamai issued Anthropic a warrant to buy non-voting preferred shares equivalent to as many as 7.7 million common shares, or about five percent of the common stock outstanding. The first tranche, equivalent to roughly two percent, vests after Anthropic’s first payment under Project Plan 3, subject to other conditions. The preferred shares cannot convert to common stock while held by Anthropic or its subsidiaries.
Three further tranches, each worth about one percent, vest if Anthropic commits another $3 billion in cloud-service purchases for each tranche. Those possible orders would add up to $9 billion, taking the relationship’s potential value to roughly $20 billion. They require further agreements and are not part of the current $11.6 billion commitment. The warrant’s exercise price is equivalent to $111.33 per common share.
Akamai previously announced more than $2.8 billion in other multi-year cloud infrastructure commitments. Its investor presentation estimates that delivering those contracts together with the Anthropic deal will require 95 to 105 megawatts of capacity. The estimate covers the combined portfolio, not Anthropic alone.
Anthropic has also signed a Kentucky data-center lease for other computing capacity. Akamai describes the newly contracted service specifically as support for CPU workloads.
Sources: Akamai, Akamai filing, Akamai investor presentation
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By the Control Plane Editorial Team