Anthropic’s $11.6B Akamai cloud deal includes a conditional equity warrant

Anthropic’s $11.6 billion Akamai cloud deal is both a long-term infrastructure commitment and a conditional equity arrangement. The initial contract covers seven years of cloud services, while a further $9 billion in potential purchases would raise the total to about $20 billion. Akamai’s warrant for up to roughly 5% of its common stock is not an immediate 5% stake: about 2% vests with the initial commitment, and the remaining portion depends on expansion.

The headline total includes a possible expansion

Akamai announced the agreement after US markets closed on Thursday, September 24, 2026. The $11.6 billion is the seven-year agreement’s initial value; the additional $9 billion is a possible expansion, not part of that starting commitment. The deal builds on a separate $1.8 billion agreement the companies signed in May. Anthropic’s seven-year agreement and possible expansion

That distinction matters because the warrant’s full potential is also conditional. Akamai issued Anthropic a warrant for 7.7 million shares on an as-converted basis, equivalent to about 5% of Akamai common stock, at an exercise price of $111.33. The warrant takes the form of non-voting convertible Series B preferred stock. About 2% vests with the initial commitment; the remaining 3% vests at 1% for each additional $3 billion in services. The warrant’s terms and vesting conditions

CPU access comes with a substantial build-out

Akamai will give Anthropic access to central processing units (CPUs) through its cloud infrastructure. The report does not specify how many CPUs, what configurations they will use or how they will perform on particular workloads. Akamai expects to spend about $5.5 billion in capital to serve the contract, and raised its 2026 capital-spending plan by about $1.7 billion to pre-buy supplies, including memory. The reported CPU access and planned investment

The size of that planned spend makes the contract more than a sales announcement for Akamai: it requires a significant infrastructure investment before the service begins. The company said the deal does not change its 2026 revenue guidance. CEO Tom Leighton told Bloomberg that services should start in the second half of 2027, with $150 million to $300 million in revenue from Anthropic expected that year and an annual run rate of about $1.7 billion by 2028. Those are management expectations, not reported results. Akamai’s stated spending, timing and revenue expectations

The equity arrangement adds another layer to the commercial relationship. Leighton described the warrant as a way to bring the companies together; investors have also raised concerns that reciprocal business and investment ties can make underlying AI demand harder to assess. Here, the warrant’s expansion-linked vesting makes the connection concrete: the largest potential equity portion depends on Anthropic buying more services, not simply signing the initial contract. Leighton’s explanation and the concern about reciprocal AI deals