The stock jumped 27% on Friday after Anthropic was identified as the customer behind Akamai's $1.8 billion cloud agreement announced a day earlier.
The deal highlighted strong investor appetite for AI infrastructure plays as companies race to secure scarce computing capacity for model training and deployment.
The surge came amid broader optimism around AI-related businesses, with investors also watching Cerebras's expected IPO and demand trends for cloud and chip suppliers.
With clients like AWS and OpenAI now building their own chips, can Cerebras's massive processors escape the shadow of its giant rivals?
A top hedge fund just dumped Microsoft over AI fears. Is the entire enterprise software industry facing an existential crisis?
Akamai’s $1.8 Billion Anthropic Deal: How Edge Infrastructure Is Reshaping the AI Cloud Market
Overview
Akamai Technologies has secured its largest-ever contract—a $1.8 billion, seven-year deal with Anthropic—marking a pivotal shift in the AI cloud market. This agreement, following another major $200 million cloud deal, highlights the growing demand for AI infrastructure and signals a genuine opening for new suppliers. At full scale, Anthropic is expected to contribute nearly 6% of Akamai’s annual revenue, significantly boosting its Cloud Infrastructure Services. The deal underscores Akamai’s strategic move to support advanced AI needs and positions the company as a key player in the evolving landscape of distributed AI cloud services.