Anthropic Signs USD 1.8 Billion AI Cloud Deal with Akamai Technologies, Firm Also Taps Elon Musk’s SpaceX for Extra Computing Power
Anthropic has secured a 1.8 billion USD, seven-year cloud deal with Akamai Technologies to expand its AI infrastructure. The agreement, which drove Akamai’s stock up 28%, follows a separate compute partnership with SpaceX’s Colossus facility. These deals aim to support surging demand for Claude AI models by leveraging distributed edge computing and massive GPU clusters.
Artificial intelligence startup Anthropic has signed a USD 1.8 billion computing agreement with Akamai Technologies to address the rapidly increasing demand for its AI software. The seven-year contract represents a significant strategic pivot for Akamai, which is transitioning from its traditional content delivery roots toward becoming a major infrastructure provider for the AI economy. Following the disclosure of the landmark deal in Akamai’s first-quarter earnings report, the company’s shares surged by 28% to 149.05 USD in regular trading on Friday, marking one of the largest single-day rallies in its history.
Akamai Cloud Infrastructure and AI Pivot
The USD 1.8 billion commitment is the largest customer deal in Akamai’s history. Dr Tom Leighton, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, described the agreement as a "definitive turning point" for the firm’s cloud computing strategy. Revenue from the partnership is expected to begin scaling in the fourth quarter of 2026, contributing an estimated USD 20 million to USD 25 million in that period alone. Anthropic to Finalising USD 1.5 Billion AI Joint Venture with Blackstone and Goldman Sachs: Report.
Akamai is positioning its highly distributed network, which spans over 4,000 locations globally, as a specialised grid for AI inference. By processing data closer to the end-user at the "edge," Akamai claims it can reduce latency and cut inference costs by up to 86% compared to traditional centralised data centres. This infrastructure is increasingly vital for real-time applications of Anthropic's Claude models.
Anthropic Infrastructure Strategy and SpaceX Partnership
The deal with Akamai follows another significant infrastructure agreement for Anthropic. On Wednesday, the startup confirmed a partnership with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to access computing resources from the Colossus 1 supercomputer facility in Memphis. This facility, which houses more than 2,20,000 NVIDIA GPUs, provides 300 megawatts of new capacity to help Anthropic ease the constraints currently facing its Claude Pro and Claude Max subscribers.
Anthropic is adopting a multi-provider strategy to secure the vast amount of compute required for its next-generation models. Beyond Akamai and SpaceX, the company has previously established multi-billion-dollar infrastructure relationships with Amazon and Google. CEO Dario Amodei recently noted that the company experienced an 80x growth in annualised revenue and usage during the first quarter of 2026.
Financial Outlook and Hardware Supply
Despite the high-profile contract win, Akamai’s quarterly results showed a business in transition. The company reported first-quarter revenue of USD 1.074 billion, a 6% year-on-year increase. While its Cloud Infrastructure Services revenue rose by 40%, its legacy delivery business declined by 7%. Akamai has forecast second-quarter revenue of between USD 1.08 billion and USD 1.10 billion. Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.6 Released: New Model Features 1 Million-Token Window and Enhanced Coding Capabilities; Check Details.
To support this massive expansion, Akamai expects its capital expenditure to reach approximately 40% of its revenue in 2026. CEO Tom Leighton informed Reuters that the company remains confident in its ability to secure essential hardware, including NVIDIA H100 and GB200 accelerators, despite rising prices and global supply chain competition for high-end components.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 10, 2026 06:41 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
