Google to invest up to $40 billion in Anthropic amid global AI race

New Delhi: US tech giant Google plans to invest up to $40 billion in the artificial intelligence (AI) firm Anthropic, as global technology giants accelerate their push into advanced AI models and infrastructure.

The proposed investment includes an initial $10 billion infusion at Anthropic’s latest valuation of $380 billion, with the remaining $30 billion tied to performance-based milestones, the companies confirmed, according to multiple reports.

The move has built on a multi-year partnership between the two firms, under which Google provides cloud infrastructure and access to Anthropic’s AI models, including its Claude suite.

Moreover, Anthropic also leverages Google’s custom tensor processing units (TPUs) as an alternative to widely used graphics processing units.

The latest agreement between the tech firms came amid surging demand for generative AI tools across enterprises, developers and consumers, which has placed increasing pressure on computing infrastructure.

Notably, Anthropic recently secured 5 gigawatts of compute capacity through collaborations involving Google and Broadcom, with additional expansion planned.

However, despite their collaboration, the companies remain competitors in the AI space, with Google’s Gemini models vying against Anthropic’s offerings in the rapidly evolving market.

Additionally, Google has been steadily increasing its stake in Anthropic since 2023, when it first invested $300 million for roughly a 10 per cent holding. Subsequent funding rounds pushed its total investment beyond $3 billion, with reports suggesting a stake of about 14 per cent prior to the latest deal.

The investment has underscored intensifying competition among major technology firms, which are committing tens of billions of dollars to leading AI labs such as Anthropic and rivals, including OpenAI.

Anthropic was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers and has seen rapid growth in adoption of its AI products, particularly its Claude models, with annualised revenue crossing $30 billion.

The deal has followed a similar arrangement with Amazon, which recently invested $5 billion in Anthropic and committed up to $20 billion more, linked to specific commercial milestones.

IANS