Google to invest up to $40 billion in AI rival Anthropic

(Reuters) - Google-parent Alphabet will invest up to $40 billion in Anthropic, as the tech giant deepens its partnership with the artificial intelligence startup that is also its rival in the global AI race.

Anthropic said on Friday that Google has committed $10 billion now in cash at a valuation of $350 billion to help support a major expansion of its computing capacity, and will invest $30 billion more if the Claude maker meets performance targets.

The investment comes just days after e-commerce giant ⁠Amazon said it will invest up to $25 billion in the startup, which has managed to stand out in the crowded AI industry by focusing its model training on coding.

Anthropic's Claude Code tool has gained strong traction among developers.

The company's annual run-rate revenue surpassed $30 billion this month, up from about $9 billion at the end of 2025.

The startup raised $30 billion in a funding round in February that valued it at $380 billion post-money amid massive investor interest, and has drawn offers from venture ⁠capital firms valuing it at as much as $800 billion, according to media reports.

HUNT FOR COMPUTING POWER

Strong demand for its Claude family of AI models has prompted Anthropic to sign several major deals recently to acquire more computing capacity.

Last year, Anthropic had said it would invest $50 billion ⁠to build data centers in the U.S. to secure infrastructure to deploy and train its models.

Earlier this year, a series of plugin releases for ⁠Anthropic's Cowork agent sparked a brutal selloff in global software stocks as investors weighed the disruptive potential of sophisticated AI tools.