Akamai Technologies said on Sept. 24 that Anthropic has committed to pay it approximately $11.6 billion over seven years for dedicated cloud computing capacity and related managed support services, an expanded relationship that also hands the AI developer a warrant for up to roughly 5 percent of Akamai's common stock outstanding. Akamai set out the terms in a Form 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and in a press release furnished as an exhibit to that filing.
The commitment was formalized through two project plans, Project Plan 2 and Project Plan 3, that the two companies entered into on Sept. 18 under a master services agreement dated May 5, 2026. Each plan has an initial seven-year term beginning on its own service start date, and Akamai said the aggregate $11.6 billion commitment is subject to the satisfaction of certain delivery and service availability requirements. The company said the transaction provides for a potential expansion of up to an additional $9 billion, for a total potential commitment of approximately $20 billion. Akamai said the Anthropic deal adds to more than $2.8 billion in multi-year Cloud Infrastructure Services commitments across its customer base announced earlier in 2026.
In connection with Project Plan 3, Akamai issued Anthropic a warrant to purchase up to 387,051 shares of its Series B Non-Voting Convertible Preferred Stock at $2,226.60 per share, a price equal to the 30-day volume-weighted average of Akamai's common stock before the Sept. 18 issue date multiplied by 20. Each preferred share is initially convertible into 20 common shares, so the warrant covers up to 7,741,020 common shares on an as-converted basis, equivalent to an exercise price of $111.33 per common share. The warrant vests in four tranches: 40 percent of the shares on Anthropic's first payment under Project Plan 3, then three tranches of 20 percent each upon every additional $3 billion of contractual value Anthropic commits under the master agreement. Exercises must be settled in cash, and the vested portion is exercisable until the seventh anniversary of the issue date. The preferred stock carries no voting rights beyond those required by Delaware law, a $0.01 per share liquidation preference and dividend rights matching the common stock on an as-converted basis; it converts automatically into common stock only when transferred outside Anthropic and its wholly owned subsidiaries, and holders cannot convert at will.
Akamai estimated total capital expenditures related to the $11.6 billion commitment at approximately $5.5 billion, and said it anticipates no impact on its 2026 revenue guidance alongside an increase of about $1.7 billion in 2026 capital spending to secure and pre-purchase critical supply chain components, including memory. The same filing disclosed two supply arrangements: a master product and services agreement with Lenovo signed on Sept. 23 covering hardware, software and related services, with a three-year master term and a seven-year statement of work, and a build request issued to Jabil Inc. on Sept. 24 authorizing the contract manufacturer to purchase approximately $1.7 billion of memory components, which Jabil will hold on consignment and repurchase from Akamai at cost as they are used. Akamai issued the warrant under the private-placement exemption of Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act, with no underwriter or placement agent involved.
Akamai shares gained 22 percent in extended trading after the announcement, Reuters reported. "Anthropic is advancing the AI revolution and we are thrilled they chose Akamai's capabilities for building and operating AI infrastructure at scale," Akamai co-founder and chief executive Tom Leighton said in the release. Emarketer analyst Jacob Bourne told Reuters the potential stake "can be seen as a vote of confidence in the durability of AI-driven cloud demand." Reuters also noted that Anthropic, which is preparing an IPO, agreed last month to spend $45 billion renting AI cloud computing capacity from Nscale's West Virginia data center campus.
The filing does not establish revenue. Akamai said the transaction has no impact on its 2026 revenue guidance, and the disclosure sets out no revenue recognition schedule for the seven-year commitment, which is itself conditioned on Akamai meeting delivery and service availability requirements. Both parties hold termination rights: Akamai may exit on an uncured breach by Anthropic, while Anthropic may terminate on a material uncured breach by Akamai or a change of control of Akamai in favor of a direct Anthropic competitor. Anthropic may also terminate an individual project plan after a material outage, in which case any plan not in breach continues as a separate agreement. The warrant is non-voting and must be exercised in cash, so it confers no immediate influence over Akamai, and only the tranche representing approximately 2 percent of common stock outstanding is expected to vest with the commitment announced, against a ceiling of about 5 percent. The $5.5 billion capital expenditure figure is an estimate, and the memory purchases are prepayments for components that will be consumed over time as capacity is delivered.
Sources
- Akamai Technologies, Form 8-K (Sept. 24, 2026): sec.gov
- Akamai Technologies, press release, Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K (Sept. 24, 2026): sec.gov
- Reuters via KSL.com, "Akamai signs $11.6 billion cloud deal with Anthropic, grants warrant for up to 5% stake" (Sept. 24, 2026): ksl.com
