Google plans to invest up to $40 billion in AI firm Anthropic, Bloomberg reported, in a deal that signals intensifying competition for the computing resources needed to power next-generation AI systems.
The Alphabet subsidiary will commit $10 billion immediately, at a $350 billion valuation for Anthropic, with an additional $30 billion contingent on Anthropic meeting certain performance targets, according to Anthropic.
The announcement follows Anthropic’s release this month of its latest model, Mythos, to a limited group of partners. Anthropic describes Mythos as its most powerful model to date, with significant cybersecurity applications. Due to concerns about potential misuse, the company restricted broader access while it works with select organizations to evaluate and address risks. Bloomberg reported that the model has already been accessed by unauthorized users. The model is also expected to be expensive to run at scale.
The investment expands an already substantial relationship between the two companies. Earlier this month, Anthropic announced a partnership with Google and chipmaker Broadcom to access multiple gigawatts of tensor processing unit (TPU)-based computing capacity beginning in 2027. A Broadcom securities filing placed that figure at 3.5 gigawatts. The new Google investment adds a fresh 5 gigawatts of capacity through Google Cloud over the next five years, with room to grow further.
Anthropic relies heavily on Google Cloud for chips and infrastructure. TPUs are specialized processors designed for AI workloads and are considered among the leading alternatives to Nvidia’s high-demand chips.
The Google deal is one of several infrastructure agreements Anthropic has secured in recent weeks. The company faced widespread complaints about Claude use limits and responded with a series of capacity deals. It struck an agreement with cloud computing provider CoreWeave for data center capacity and secured an additional $5 billion investment from Amazon, part of a broader arrangement under which Anthropic is expected to spend up to $100 billion for around 5 gigawatts of compute capacity over time.
Competitor OpenAI has also moved aggressively to lock in compute resources, including an expanded deal with chipmaker Cerebras, announced this month, that Reuters reported could exceed $20 billion.
Anthropic’s valuation stood at $350 billion as recently as February. Bloomberg reported that investors have since sought to back the company at $800 billion or more. The company is also reportedly considering an IPO as soon as October.
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