Amazon Shares Jump Premarket on Additional Anthropic Spend

Amazon shares rose premarket after the company said after Monday's close that it would invest up to $25 billion in artificial-intelligence company Anthropic.

Shares jumped 2.8% in midday European premarket trade to $255.11.

Amazon will invest an extra $5 billion in Anthropic, building on a partnership the companies started in 2023 with an initial $4 billion investment by the e-commerce company.

As part of the latest deal, Anthropic agreed to spend more than $100 billion over the next 10 years on Amazon's cloud-computing division, Amazon Web Services.

Amazon's initial investment in Anthropic will be the main driver of growth in AWS in the first quarter, potentially contributing $1.3 billion to AWS revenues, Bank of America analysts wrote in a note to clients sent before the company's announcement of the additional investment.

"We continue to see Amazon as very well positioned to benefit from growing corporate demand for AI capacity," the analysts said.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq index rose 0.4% premarket as technology stocks rallied in Europe.

Despite continuing uncertainty surrounding peace talks in the Middle East, "the sector continues to operate in its own lane, with ongoing expansion in AI models and applications driving demand for infrastructure," Swissquote senior analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya said.

Write to Joe Stonor at [email protected]