Anthropic’s cloud partnerships are getting messy
TechCrunch Rebecca Bellan
Rumor — unconfirmed reporting.
Anthropic can’t get enough cloud space from AWS, Google, or Microsoft. So it’s leasing data centers and still staring at huge bills and bigger risk.
Based on reporting by TechCrunch, Rebecca Bellan — read the original for the full story.
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Anthropic’s cloud problem is getting awkward. A leaked S-1 filing says AWS, Google, and Microsoft are no longer behaving like pure suppliers; they’re increasingly treating the Claude maker like a rival. When your infrastructure partners start seeing you across the table instead of across the invoice, capacity gets harder to buy and probably more expensive too.
The filing adds a sharper edge to the cloud-spend numbers reported by Reuters and the Financial Times in late September. Anthropic believes it could spend more than $750 billion on cloud contracts, including some deals that are still being negotiated. Even that may not be enough. The company is also leasing its own data centers and leaning on third-party operators, but it worries those providers have a limited operating history and may be less reliable than the hyperscalers.
This is happening while the company is taking a very large financial hit. Anthropic reported an $80.7 billion net loss in the first half of the year, alongside $16.3 billion in revenue. According to the WSJ report, just two customers made up about a fifth of sales in that period. That is a lot of concentration for a business that is also spending at planetary scale.
The filing also warns about another ugly possibility: liability for harmful AI behavior could exceed the insurance coverage Anthropic has available. And last week, the company told prospective investors that third-quarter revenue has reached $16.8 billion, up 45% from the previous quarter. Anthropic is reportedly aiming for a November IPO, though it has not responded to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
This is what happens when the AI arms race runs into the bill for the runway. The hyperscalers helped feed the boom, and now they’re charging rent while eyeing the tenant as competition. That’s not a partnership problem; that’s the market clearing its throat.
Read more about this at: TechCrunch
