AMD to invest up to $5bn in Anthropic as part of chip deal

In short: AMD says it will invest up to $5bn in Anthropic, and Anthropic will buy tens of billions of dollars of AMD’s latest AI server chips.

What happened

AMD, a major US chipmaker, has struck a multibillion-dollar deal with Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI tools. The deal includes AMD investing up to $5bn in Anthropic.

Anthropic also committed to buying tens of billions of dollars of AMD’s newest AI server chips. These are the specialized computer parts that help run and train AI systems. You can think of them like the engine in a car, because they do much of the heavy lifting.

Anthropic said the agreement will add 2 gigawatts of computing capacity to its platform. The first 1 gigawatt is expected to come online in the first half of next year. Anthropic compared 1 gigawatt to the power output of a single nuclear reactor.

The Financial Times reported that AMD’s investment is tied to Anthropic meeting certain milestones, which are pre-agreed goals. The Wall Street Journal first reported the deal.

Anthropic already uses a mix of suppliers for its computing needs, including chips from Nvidia and cloud companies such as Amazon and Google. AMD’s chips will now be part of that mix.

Why it matters

Many AI companies are scrambling to secure enough computing power, because there are not enough chips to meet demand. Deals like this can affect which AI products grow fastest, how much they cost to run, and which chip companies win more business.

Source: Financial Times