Amazon mulls another multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic

Amazon is considering further investment in Anthropic to remain one of its top shareholders, ahead of Google, which has already committed over $3 billion

Ecommerce giant Amazon is reportedly considering a further multi-billion dollar investment in artificial intelligence firm Anthropic, The Financial Times reported today. This would expand upon the $8 billion already committed as of November last year.

In November 2023, Amazon injected $4 billion into Anthropic, a rival to OpenAI, to capitalise on the fast-growing generative AI sector. This move doubled the tech giant’s initial investment in the company. The potential new funding would help Amazon maintain its position as one of Anthropic’s primary shareholders, outpacing Google, which has thus far invested over $3 billion.

 

Race for AI supremacy 

Amazon is aiming to solidify its standing in AI innovation, following early advances made by competitors such as OpenAI and Google, particularly in the realm of consumer-facing AI models. As competition intensifies, firms are ramping up AI investments and employing novel strategies to secure top-tier AI talent. Meta has extended unusually large compensation packages to recruits for its ‘superintelligence’ team, including an offer worth over $200 million to Ruoming Pang, the former leader of Apple’s AI division.

 

Amazon building its largest AI data centre 

As part of its strategic expansion, Amazon is constructing what will become its largest data centre complex near New Carlisle, Indiana, according to a report by The New York Times. Comprising approximately 30 facilities, the site will be filled with hundreds of thousands of specialised AI chips. Collectively, these centres are designed to function as a singular, powerful machine exclusively dedicated to artificial intelligence workloads. The site is expected to draw 2.2 gigawatts of electricity, sufficient to power one million homes. It has reportedly been purpose-built for a single client: Anthropic.

 

Amazon’s Project Rainier 

This data centre cluster is the first of a new breed under Amazon’s Project Rainier initiative, named after the prominent mountain near its Seattle headquarters. Project Rainier represents Amazon’s foray into the tech industry's escalating race to build AI data infrastructure on a previously unimaginable scale.

 

Anthropic to utilise Amazon’s custom AI chips 

Anthropic intends to develop and run its foundational AI models using Amazon’s proprietary Trainium and Inferentia processors. While Nvidia currently dominates the market for AI-specific chips and counts Amazon among its many hyperscale clients, Amazon is actively developing its own hardware through Annapurna Labs. Anthropic said it is working closely with the Annapurna team to assist in chip development.

 

AI investment surge continues 

Amazon’s deepening financial commitment to Anthropic highlights the wider trend of soaring investment in AI startups. Since the debut of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022, interest in generative AI has skyrocketed, prompting investors to channel billions into companies aiming to lead the next phase of AI innovation.