Akamai Technologies has long been known as a content delivery company. It has now signed a seven-year agreement to supply Anthropic with cloud infrastructure and software services valued at $11.6 billion. Akamai stock rose 15% to $127.49 in morning trading on the news.
Other cloud names moved far less, 24/7 Wall St. reported. Cloudflare stock rose 1% to $362.58, and CoreWeave shares rose 1% to $91.40.
What Akamai Will Run for Anthropic
The deal centers on Anthropic’s central processing unit (CPU) workloads. Those workloads will run on Akamai Cloud’s distributed infrastructure. Anthropic also holds an option to expand its commitment during the term.
As part of the arrangement, Akamai issued Anthropic a warrant to buy non-voting convertible Series B preferred stock. The warrant vests as the contract reaches set milestones.
“Anthropic is advancing the AI revolution and we are thrilled they chose Akamai’s capabilities for building and operating AI infrastructure at scale,” said Tom Leighton, Akamai’s co-founder and chief executive. The contract adds to multi-year cloud infrastructure commitments Akamai announced earlier in the year.
Why Cloudflare and CoreWeave Barely Moved
The gap in stock moves suggests investors saw the deal as an Akamai story, not a broad cloud rally. The First Trust Cloud Computing ETF rose 2%, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust rose 0.3%.
Cloudflare began the year at $197.15, and CoreWeave started it at $71.61. Both already had substantial gains before the Akamai news. Their smaller moves look like sympathy buying tied to Akamai’s deal, according to the report.
For companies choosing a network or cloud provider, the deal shows the lines shifting. A company built on content delivery is now competing for AI compute work that has mostly gone to the largest cloud providers.
The Cost of Building Before the Revenue
The contract comes with a large upfront bill. Akamai estimates total capital expenditures tied to the commitment at about $5.5 billion. That spending arrives ahead of the revenue it is meant to generate, which leaves Akamai carrying a heavy obligation through the build phase.
Management told investors the agreement has no impact on Akamai’s full-year revenue guidance. Spending before revenue arrives could pressure margins and cash flow during the build phase, even if the contract proves profitable over its full term.
The scale is notable. Heading into the session, Akamai carried a market cap of $15.87 billion. That puts the contract on the same order of magnitude as the whole company.
What to Watch as the Build-Out Starts
Akamai stock started the year at $87.25 and remains below its 52-week high of $165.45, even after the jump. The open question is how quickly Akamai brings the Anthropic capacity online.
Clarity on the build-out could arrive with Akamai’s next quarterly report. Until then, the deal gives Akamai a reference customer at the top of the AI market. It is also a long-term obligation that Akamai must fund first, and that validation could help in future contract talks.
