Amazon invests $5 billion in Anthropic for cloud services

Amazon Strengthens Its Partnership with Anthropic

On Monday, Anthropic revealed that Amazon has decided to increase its investment in the company by an additional $5 billion. This new injection brings Amazon's total investments in Anthropic to $13 billion. In exchange, Anthropic has committed to spending over $100 billion on Amazon Web Services (AWS) over the next ten years. This colossal budget aims to secure up to 5 gigawatts of new computing capacity, essential for training and operating Claude, their artificial intelligence model.

A Reflection of the Partnership with OpenAI

This agreement is reminiscent of the partnership Amazon recently established with OpenAI. Two months ago, Amazon participated in a $110 billion funding round for OpenAI, contributing $50 billion. This operation valued OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, at $730 billion prior to the investment. Similar to the deal with OpenAI, the agreement with Anthropic is structured partly around cloud infrastructure services rather than direct cash.

Trainium Chips at the Heart of the Agreement

A central element of this agreement lies in the use of Amazon's custom chips. Anthropic will utilize Trainium chips, designed for AI acceleration, ranging from Trainium2 to Trainium4. Although Trainium4 chips are not yet available, the latest version, Trainium3, was launched in December. Anthropic has also secured an option to purchase capacity on Amazon's future chips as soon as they become available.

Towards a New Funding Round?

This announcement could be a prelude to a new funding round for Anthropic. Rumors are circulating that venture capital investors have offered funds to the AI company, potentially valuing it at $800 billion or more.