AI Moves: Anthropic Secures $4 Billion Investment from Amazon, Deepening Collaboration with AWS

Anthropic, a key competitor to OpenAI, has raised an additional $4 billion from Amazon (AMZN), cementing a strategic partnership that designates Amazon Web Services (AWS) as the primary platform for training Anthropic’s flagship generative AI models.

The collaboration extends to AWS’s Annapurna Labs, where the two companies are working to develop next-generation Trainium chips, custom-built AI training accelerators. In a blog post, Anthropic highlighted its engineers’ close collaboration with Annapurna’s chip design team to maximize computational efficiency. “Together with AWS, we’re building the foundation — from silicon to software — to power the next generation of AI research and development,” the company stated.

Amazon confirmed that Anthropic would leverage its Trainium chips, including the latest Trainium2, to train AI models and deploy them using Inferentia, Amazon’s proprietary inference chip. AWS CEO Matt Garman noted, “Anthropic’s innovation and commitment to responsible AI development have impressed us. This collaboration pushes the boundaries of what’s possible with generative AI.”

The $4 billion investment brings Amazon’s total stake in Anthropic to $8 billion, though the company remains a minority shareholder. To date, Anthropic has raised $13.7 billion in funding, with its valuation reportedly nearing $40 billion. Previous rounds included a $2 billion investment from Google and an earlier $4 billion commitment from Amazon.

While Anthropic is said to prefer Nvidia’s chips for AI training, Amazon’s investment includes a condition: the exclusive use of AWS silicon. This condition aligns with Amazon’s strategy to strengthen its foothold in the AI ecosystem.