Anthropic signs $11.6 billion cloud deal with Akamai, gets warrant for up to 5% stake

Sept 24 : Anthropic has committed to spending $11.6 billion on cloud services from Akamai Technologies over seven years, while securing an option to take an up to 5 per cent stake in the company.

The seven-year contract could expand by an additional $9 billion, bringing the potential total commitment to about $20 billion. Akamai shares jumped 16 per cent in extended trading on Thursday.

The deal is expected to require about $5.5 billion in total capital expenditure. Akamai plans to increase its 2026 capital spending by about $1.7 billion to secure and pre-purchase components needed to support the agreement, including memory.

As part of the deal, Akamai issued Anthropic a warrant that could give the AI company a stake of up to 5 per cent in Akamai. About 2 per cent is tied to Anthropic's initial $11.6 billion commitment, while the remaining 3 per cent would vest if the companies expand the agreement by up to another $9 billion.

The warrant is equivalent to about 7.7 million Akamai shares and has an exercise price of $111.33 per share.

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