May 8 (Reuters) – Artificial intelligence startup Anthropic has signed a $1.8 billion computing deal with Akamai Technologies to meet surging demand for its AI software, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
• Akamai shares rose 25% on Thursday after the company had disclosed a long-term cloud deal with a frontier model provider, without naming the partner, in its earnings statement.
• In regular trading on Friday, the stock was up about 28% at $149.05.
• Both Akamai and Anthropic declined comment.
• The cloud and cybersecurity firm forecast second-quarter revenue of between $1.08 billion and $1.10 billion, compared with analyst estimates of $1.10 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
• CEO Tom Leighton told Reuters that Akamai is in a good position to secure access to all the components, CPUs and GPUs, even as component prices have risen.
• On Wednesday, Anthropic said it had reached a deal to tap the computing resources of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, marking a rapprochement with a one-time critic and a boost for both companies in the competitive artificial intelligence race.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
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