Microsoft & NVIDIA Invest $15B in AI Startup Anthropic

According to reports, Microsoft and NVIDIA have pledged up to $15 billion in investment in AI developer Anthropic, connecting the startup with two of the main backers of its competitor, OpenAI.

Sources indicate this investment will be part of Anthropic's upcoming funding round. As part of the deal, Anthropic has also committed to purchase $30 billion worth of computing power from Microsoft Azure.

This deal highlights a growing trend in which leading AI developers secure support from cloud and chip providers, who in turn supply essential infrastructure. Some investors have raised concerns about these "circular AI transactions," viewing them as potential signs of an AI investment bubble.

For Anthropic, the partnership further strengthens its ties with Microsoft, which has already invested more than $13 billion in OpenAI and played a pivotal role in OpenAI's success. In recent months, however, competition between Microsoft and OpenAI has become increasingly visible.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella commented on the collaboration: "We will increasingly become each other's customers—using Anthropic's models while they leverage our infrastructure—and together we will explore new markets. This complements, not replaces, our ongoing partnership with OpenAI, which remains a key collaborator."

Earlier discussions considered integrating Anthropic's AI models into Azure's Foundry service for deployment, but those talks did not materialize. Sources say Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei worked closely with Nadella and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang to finalize the agreement.

For NVIDIA, the partnership connects its advanced chip technology with another AI developer working to bring AI into everyday applications. NVIDIA will invest up to $10 billion in Anthropic, which initially committed to using up to 1 gigawatt of computing power powered by NVIDIA's Grace Blackwell and Vera Rubin chips. NVIDIA engineers will collaborate with Anthropic to optimize future chip designs for the startup's AI software and services.

Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees, Anthropic positions itself as a secure, trustworthy AI developer. While smaller than OpenAI, its Claude chatbot and underlying technology have gained recognition among enterprise clients in finance, healthcare, and developer communities.

In September, Anthropic raised $13 billion at a $183 billion valuation and reported serving 300,000 enterprise clients. Like OpenAI, the company is rapidly expanding its infrastructure to support broader AI development, planning a $50 billion investment to build AI-focused data centers across Texas, New York, and other U.S. regions.

In October, Anthropic also announced a major agreement with Google, which will provide up to one million dedicated AI chips, a deal valued at several billion dollars.

Barclays analyst Raimo Lenschow noted: "This collaboration allows Microsoft to expand its AI footprint, gaining both more Azure AI customers and access to more AI model resources. In the short term, reducing dependence on OpenAI may have challenges, but strategically, it strengthens Microsoft's position for the future."

Amazon remains another major Anthropic partner, having invested $8 billion and built extensive AI data centers and custom AWS AI chips for the company. Amazon continues to be a key cloud partner for Anthropic.