Google, Anthropic deepen AI partnership with tens-of-billions cloud deal
Alphabet Inc.’s Google will provide up to 1 million of its specialized AI chips to Anthropic PBC, a deal valued at tens of billions of dollars that strengthens the partnership between the tech giant and the fast-growing AI startup.
Announced Thursday, the agreement gives Anthropic significantly more computing capacity while reinforcing Google’s role as both a major investor and key infrastructure provider in the race to power large AI models.
The tensor processing units (TPUs), Google’s custom-designed chips for accelerating machine learning workloads, are scheduled for deployment in 2026, adding more than a gigawatt of capacity, according to Google. The deal ranks among the largest commitments yet in the AI hardware arms race, highlighting the high cost of training and running advanced AI systems.
“Anthropic and Google have a longstanding partnership and this latest expansion will help us continue to grow the compute we need to define the frontier of AI,” said Krishna Rao, chief financial officer of Anthropic.
By leveraging Google’s TPUs, Anthropic gains access to one of the most advanced AI chip infrastructures outside of Nvidia Corp., reducing its reliance on costly and scarce GPUs. Expanding the partnership with Google, the No. 3 cloud provider behind Amazon and Microsoft, also reflects confidence in Google’s specialized AI technology. Following news of the deal, Amazon shares, which is both a major investor in Anthropic and one of its main cloud providers, fell, while Google’s stock rose.
Google has invested approximately $3 billion in Anthropic, including $2 billion in 2023 and another $1 billion earlier this year. Amazon, meanwhile, has pledged up to $8 billion and provides Anthropic with its own custom chips via Amazon Web Services. Anthropic relies on both companies’ cloud services to train and deploy its Claude family of large language models, which compete with OpenAI’s GPT lineup and Google’s Gemini AI systems.
Recently, Anthropic held early funding talks with Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX, about a month after completing a $13 billion funding round led by Iconiq Capital, Fidelity Management and Research Co., and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The round nearly tripled Anthropic’s valuation to $183 billion.
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