Amazon To Invest Up To $25 Bn More In Anthropic - BW Businessworld

The commitment adds to the USD 8 billion the Seattle-based company has already invested in Anthropic

Amazon said it will invest up to USD 25 billion in artificial intelligence startup Anthropic. The investment includes an immediate USD 5 billion infusion, with a further USD 20 billion to be deployed over time subject to commercial milestones, the company said.

The commitment adds to the USD 8 billion the Seattle-based company has already invested in Anthropic.

Under the expanded deal, Anthropic has committed to spending more than USD 100 billion over the next decade on Amazon's cloud services, the companies said, highlighting the scale of infrastructure required to train and run large AI models.

Amazon has emerged as a key beneficiary of the AI boom by supplying cloud computing and custom chips, even as it has struggled to generate comparable excitement around its own AI models. The company said it expects capital expenditures of about USD 200 billion this year, largely tied to artificial intelligence.

Anthropic said it plans to bring roughly 1 gigawatt of AI computing capacity online by the end of this year using Amazon's Trainium2 and Trainium3 chips, with a longer-term goal of securing up to 5 gigawatts of capacity.

"Anthropic's use of Trainium chips reflects the progress we've made together on custom silicon," Amazon Chief Executive Andy Jassy said in a statement.

Anthropic, which develops large language models (LLMs) with a focus on safety, has been racing to lock in computing resources as competition intensifies in the AI sector. The startup has been releasing models aimed at coding and design tasks, areas seen as critical battlegrounds for enterprise adoption.

The latest deal also points to Amazon's strategy of backing multiple major AI players. Earlier this year, the company said it would invest up to USD 50 billion in OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT.