Anthropic, Google in talks on cloud deal worth tens of billions

[SAN FRANCISCO] Anthropic PBC is in discussions with Alphabet’s Google about a deal that would provide the artificial intelligence (AI) company with additional computing power valued in the high tens of billions of US dollars, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The plan, which has not been finalised, involves Google providing cloud computing services to Anthropic, according to the sources, who asked not to be named because the information is private. Google is a previous investor in and cloud provider for Anthropic.

Anthropic and Google declined to comment. Talks are in their early stages, and the details could change.

Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees, San Francisco-based Anthropic is best known for its Claude family of large language models, which compete with OpenAI’s GPT models. Like its peers, Anthropic has been raising significant sums to keep pace in a race to advance AI, which industry leaders say will require more resources for research and breakthroughs, as well as consumer demand.

Anthropic recently held early funding talks with Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX, about a month after closing a US$13 billion funding round. That financing, led by Iconiq Capital, with Fidelity Management and Research and Lightspeed Venture Partners as co-leads, nearly tripled Anthropic’s valuation to US$183 billion, including US dollars raised.

Google previously invested about US$3 billion in Anthropic; the tech giant committed to invest US$2 billion in the AI startup in 2023, and followed up with another US$1 billion investment early this year. Amazon.com, which competes with Google in cloud services, has also invested billions in Anthropic and provided computing power. BLOOMBERG