AI startup Anthropic is in discussions with Google for additional cloud computing capacity valued in the high tens of billions of dollars, according to Bloomberg News, in a prospective arrangement that would deepen the pair’s existing commercial ties.
The plan, which has not been finalised, would see Google provide cloud services and access to its tensor processing units, chips built to accelerate machine learning workloads, Bloomberg reported. Google previously invested about $3 billion in Anthropic, including a $2 billion commitment in 2023 followed by a further $1 billion early this year. Amazon has separately committed about $8 billion, and Anthropic is a key AI customer of Amazon Web Services.
Shares in Alphabet rose, with Reuters noting a 2.3 per cent gain after the bell. Bloomberg said Google stock jumped more than 3.5 per cent in extended trading, while Amazon slipped about 2 per cent. Both companies declined to comment, and Anthropic did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Reuters reported.
Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees, the San Francisco-based company is best known for its Claude family of large language models, which compete with OpenAI’s GPT systems. The firm has been raising substantial capital to fund model training and deployment. Bloomberg reported that the company recently closed a $13 billion funding round led by Iconiq Capital, with participation from Fidelity Management and Research Co. and Lightspeed Venture Partners, lifting Anthropic’s valuation to about $183 billion, including dollars raised. Google and Amazon are major investors.
Reuters reported last week that Anthropic is projecting to more than double and potentially nearly triple its annualised revenue run rate next year, driven by adoption of its enterprise products. The company is targeting an internal goal of $9 billion in annual revenue run rate by the end of 2025.
Talks between Anthropic and Google are in their early stages and could change, Bloomberg reported, with terms still being discussed. Any deal would expand Anthropic’s access to Google’s infrastructure while the startup continues to build out partnerships across the cloud sector.
Recent Stories