Akamai Signs $11.6B Seven-Year Deal With Anthropic to Power CPU Workloads on Akamai Cloud
Companies building AI need more than powerful chips. They need places to run the heavy CPU work that keeps AI agents and applications running. Akamai built its business by putting The post Akamai Signs $11.6B Seven-Year Deal With Anthropic to Power CPU Workloads on Akamai Cloud appeared first on Ventureburn .
Akamai has signed a massive $11.6 billion, seven-year deal with Anthropic to provide CPU workloads on its cloud infrastructure. This agreement is the largest contract ever signed by Akamai. Anthropic's use of Akamai's distributed network, which spans thousands of global locations and over 4,400 edge points of presence, will enable the AI company to scale its operations at a lower cost compared to traditional cloud providers.
The deal includes an option for Anthropic to commit an additional $9 billion, potentially increasing the total value to $20 billion. Akamai CEO Tom Leighton stated that Anthropic chose Akamai's capabilities for building and operating AI infrastructure at scale. Notably, this deal is unique as most AI cloud deals focus on GPUs, while this one is centered around CPUs.
Akamai's advantage lies in the lower power consumption of CPUs compared to GPUs, and its infrastructure is optimized for this type of workload. The deal also includes a significant alignment with Anthropic, as Akamai issued the company a warrant for up to 7.7 million non-voting convertible Series B preferred shares, equivalent to about 5% of Akamai's common stock. This structure indicates a high level of confidence in the long-term demand for AI cloud services.
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