Amazon has intensified its push into artificial intelligence by committing an additional USD 4 billion to Anthropic, the AI startup behind the generative AI chatbot Claude. This investment doubles Amazon’s total funding in Anthropic to USD 8 billion.
The latest funding, like Amazon’s earlier investment, will come in the form of convertible notes and be rolled out in phases, starting with an initial USD 1.3 billion. While Amazon remains a minority investor, Anthropic’s growing collaboration with the e-commerce and cloud giant signals the strengthening of their strategic partnership. At the same time, the startup is reportedly in talks with other investors to raise additional capital, leveraging Amazon’s backing to attract further funding.
Anthropic has increasingly aligned itself with Amazon Web Services (AWS), which has become the startup’s primary cloud provider. AWS now plays a key role in distributing Anthropic’s AI models, contributing significantly to the startup’s revenue.
Anthropic plans to train and deploy its foundational models using Amazon’s specialized Trainium and Inferentia chips, further deepening their technical collaboration. The intensive computational demands of training AI systems have also brought Amazon’s in-house chip division, Annapurna Labs, into the fold, with Anthropic working closely on developing custom processors to support its goals.
Amazon’s heightened investment reflects the fierce competition among Big Tech companies to secure leadership in generative AI. Microsoft, a key backer of OpenAI, and Alphabet, which has invested USD 500 million in Anthropic with promises of an additional USD 1.5 billion, are also racing to develop advanced AI models and integrate them into their cloud services. Despite Alphabet’s financial stake in Anthropic and the startup’s ongoing use of Google Cloud, Amazon has steadily emerged as Anthropic’s preferred cloud partner, signaling a strategic win for AWS.
Anthropic, founded by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei—former OpenAI executives—has become a prominent player in the AI sector with its Claude chatbot. Amazon’s support positions the startup to continue scaling its capabilities in a market increasingly defined by the interplay of cutting-edge AI research and powerful cloud infrastructure.
(Inputs from Reuters)
