Akamai Technologies Inc. has landed the largest contract in its history, a seven-year, $11.6 billion cloud infrastructure deal with artificial intelligence (AI) giant Anthropic that could potentially top $20 billion.
The announcement sent Akamai shares surging more than 20% in after-hours trading Thursday, driven by the massive scale of the partnership and its potential for expansion. Under the agreement, Anthropic has the option to commit an additional $9 billion.
The deal leverages Akamai Cloud’s distributed network, which spans thousands of global points of presence, to support Anthropic’s rapidly growing demand for CPU workloads.
“Anthropic chose Akamai’s unique capabilities for building and operating AI infrastructure at scale,” Akamai CEO Tom Leighton said. He noted that the company’s extensive global footprint positions it to be a premier “infrastructure provider for secure and responsible AI applications.”
To align long-term growth incentives, Akamai issued Anthropic a warrant to acquire up to 7.7 million non-voting convertible Series B preferred shares (roughly 5% of Akamai’s common stock) at an exercise price of $111.33 per share. Approximately 2% of the shares vest immediately in connection with the $11.6 billion deal, with the remaining 3% tied to future spending milestones of $3 billion increments.
The deal caps off a massive commercial push for Akamai, bringing its year-to-date signed total contract value to approximately $14.4 billion. This includes $2.8 billion in multiyear cloud infrastructure contracts secured earlier in 2026, which featured a previously undisclosed $1.8 billion commitment from Anthropic reported in May.
Despite the record contract size, Akamai Chief Financial Officer Ed McGowan said the company expects no revenue contribution from the new deal in 2026, leaving current-year revenue guidance unchanged.
Revenue generation is slated to begin in the second half of 2027, contributing an estimated $150 million to $300 million for the year, before ramping up to an annualized run rate of roughly $1.7 billion by late 2028.
To support the massive capacity demands, Akamai plans to deploy approximately $5.5 billion in total capital expenditures over the next two years. The capital program includes an immediate $1.7 billion expenditure in the fourth quarter of 2026 to prepurchase and secure key supply-chain components, such as memory chips. An additional $3.1 billion will be deployed in 2027, followed by $700 million in 2028.
Management confirmed the infrastructure will be funded through Akamai’s current $4.6 billion cash balance, operational cash flow, and an existing $1 billion credit facility.
The contract highlights an industry trend toward CPU-based computing for specific AI operations. Unlike energy-heavy GPU setups, McGowan noted that CPU deployments offer greater power efficiency.
The broader $14.4 billion contract portfolio is expected to generate $2.2 billion in annual recurring revenue when fully operational, requiring roughly 95 to 105 megawatts of power.
