Google Invests $1 Billion in Anthropic, Fueling AI Race Among Tech Giants

Google reportedly invests $1B+ in OpenAI rival Anthropic - SiliconANGLE

Google LLC is investing more than $1 billion in Anthropic PBC, the Financial Times reported today. The cash infusion comes on top of the $2 billion that Google has already provided to the artificial intelligence developer. Separately, Anthropic is said to be raising $2 billion from a group of institutional investors led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. The latter deal is expected to value the company at $60 billion. Anthropic develops a series of enterprise-focused large language models called Claude. The models can generate text, craft software code and perform a range of other tasks. Anthropic provides its LLMs via an application programming interface that makes it possible to integrate them into third-party software. The company debuted its most capable mode, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, last June. Anthropic claims that the algorithm outperforms OpenAI's general-purpose GPT-4o model across a range of reasoning tasks. Claude 3.5 Sonnet can also perform actions in business applications on users' behalf. At a Wall Street Journal event this week, Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei shared new details about the company's AI roadmap. He detailed that Anthropic plans to equip its LLMs with the ability to browse the web and remember user preferences across projects. Additionally, Anthropic will raise its API's rate limits to let developers send more prompts to its LLMs. According to Amodei, Anthropic limits API usage partly because its backend infrastructure is struggling to keep up with demand. The company is currently working to upgrade that infrastructure. The reported $1 billion investment from Google could make it easier for Anthropic to buy more AI hardware. This past November, the LLM developer raised a $4 billion funding round from Amazon.com Inc. As part of the partnership, Anthropic will use Amazon Web Services Inc.'s custom AWS Trainium chips to train future foundation models. It's unclear if the investment from Google might see Anthropic increase its use of the search giant's competing public cloud to support LLM projects. Last month, AWS detailed that it's collaborating with Anthropic to build an AI supercomputer called Project Rainier. The system is set to include hundreds of thousands of Trainium chips. Once online, it's expected to provide more than five times the compute capacity of the cluster that Anthropic used to train its current flagship LLMs. In addition to upgrading its infrastructure, Anthropic plans to more directly compete with OpenAI's growing lineup of reasoning-optimized LLMs. During this week's WSJ event, Amodei said the company is working on new models that can take on more complex tasks. He hinted that Anthropic is not building LLMs focused solely on reasoning, but rather plans to equip general-purpose models with better problem-solving skills.

Google Further Invests USD 1 Billion in Anthropic: Report

Amazon invests USD 8 billion in Anthropic, its largest-ever venture investment. Google is reportedly making a new investment of over USD 1 billion in Anthropic, a generative AI start-up known for its Claude family of AI models. Having already committed approximately USD 2 billion to Anthropic, Google is now increasing its stake in the company, according to the Financial Times, which cited four sources familiar with the matter. Anthropic develops tools for generating text, images, and code in response to user prompts. Also Read: Anthropic Unveils New AI Model with Computer Use Capability Anthropic is also expected to secure an additional USD 2 billion from venture investors led by Lightspeed Venture Partners in a separate deal, potentially tripling its valuation to around USD 60 billion, the report said, citing several people with direct knowledge of the deal. According to the report, Anthropic's annualised revenue reached USD 1 billion in December -- a tenfold increase from the previous year -- although profitability remains a distant goal due to the high costs associated with AI development. Also Read: Anthropic, Palantir, and AWS Partner to Bring Claude AI Models to US Defense Operations Despite these challenges, investors are not anticipating that Anthropic or its competitors will be profitable in the near term, due to the significant expenses involved in developing leading AI models. However, they remain optimistic that advancements in technology could eventually generate trillions of dollars in value, the report said. "Right now, I'm more confident than I have been at any previous time that we are very close to powerful capabilities...AI systems that are better than almost all humans at almost all tasks," Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, according to the report. The latest investment from Google in Anthropic adds to a total investment of USD 8 billion from Amazon, marking the e-commerce group's largest-ever venture investment over the past 18 months. Amazon is also working to integrate Anthropic's Claude models into the next-generation Alexa smart speaker. Also Read: Amazon Invests USD 4 Billion More in Anthropic, Expands AI Partnership Founded in 2021 by ex-OpenAI employees, Anthropic differentiates itself by prioritising AI safety. The company has introduced advanced features, including AI systems capable of controlling computers, and is now focused on developing autonomous AI agents -- software designed to perform tasks and navigate the web on behalf of human users.

Anthropic hits $60B valuation with Google's $1B boost

Google has committed to a new investment exceeding $1 billion in the AI startup Anthropic, reinforcing its stake in the competitor to OpenAI as the technology race intensifies among Silicon Valley giants, according to Financial Times. This latest funding follows Google's previous investments totaling approximately $2 billion, which secured a 10% ownership interest in Anthropic, along with a substantial cloud services agreement between the two companies. Anthropic is recognized primarily for its Claude family of AI models. In addition to Google's investment, Anthropic is reportedly close to securing another $2 billion in a separate funding round, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, which is expected to elevate the startup's valuation to around $60 billion. The startup faces stiff competition from OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI, both of which had substantial fundraising success last year, alongside competitors such as Microsoft and Meta. How Anthropic's MCP might finally make AI less dumb about context Amazon has heavily backed Anthropic, recently announcing an additional $4 billion investment, bringing its total investment to $8 billion. This funding marks the largest venture investment by Amazon to date and positions Amazon as a minority stakeholder without a board seat. As part of this agreement, Amazon Web Services became Anthropic's primary cloud and training partner. Anthropic's revenue reached an annualized $1 billion as of December, exhibiting roughly a tenfold increase year-over-year, primarily driven by enterprise sales. Despite this growth, investors remain cautious regarding the near-term profitability of Anthropic and its competitors, given the high costs associated with the development of advanced AI models. Notably, Anthropic has achieved significant technological milestones. In October, the startup announced advancements in AI agents capable of performing complex tasks similarly to human operation on computers, including interpreting screens, navigating websites, and executing multi-step commands. Recently, Anthropic released Claude 3.5 Sonnet, its latest AI model, and Claude Enterprise, marking its most significant product launch since the introduction of the Claude chatbot. Anthropic was established in 2021 by former OpenAI employees and has distinguished itself by emphasizing AI safety. The company has also recruited numerous staff members from OpenAI, including a co-founder.

Google increases investment in Anthropic by another $1 billion

Google is making a fresh investment of more than $1 billion into OpenAI rival Anthropic, boosting its position in the start-up as Silicon Valley titans rush to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence systems. The Alphabet-owned search behemoth had already committed about $2 billion to Anthropic and was now increasing its stake in the group, according to four people with knowledge of the situation. Anthropic, best known for its Claude family of AI models, is one of the leading start-ups in the new wave of generative AI companies building tools to generate text, images and code in response to user prompts. Google invented the technology on which models such as Claude and OpenAI's GPT4 are built, but it has lagged behind in the race to commercialise the powerful technology. The Anthropic investment is part of the Silicon Valley company's efforts to diversify its AI business and take on deep-pocketed competitors, including Microsoft, Meta and Amazon. Anthropic was also on the cusp of securing a further $2 billion from Silicon Valley venture capital investors, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, in a separate deal expected to triple the start-up's valuation to about $60 billion, according to several people with direct knowledge of the deal. The start-up is in a fierce competition with rivals OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI, both of which raised more than $10 billion last year, as well as Facebook parent Meta and Microsoft. The new tranche of money from Google into Anthropic adds to a total investment of $8 billion from Amazon, the ecommerce group's largest-ever venture investment, announced over the past 18 months. Amazon is also working to embed the Claude models into the next-generation version of its Alexa speaker.

Google Invests $1 bn in Anthropic

Tech giant Google is reportedly investing over $1 billion in Anthropic, the AI startup behind the Claude language models. This new investment is separate from the company's earlier reported funding round of nearly $2 billion earlier this month, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, to bump the company's valuation to about $60 billion. In 2023, Google had invested $300 million in Anthropic, acquiring a 10% stake in the company. In November last, Amazon led Anthropic's $4 billion fundraising effort, raising its overall funding to $8 billion for the company. Big tech companies are more interested in Anthropic than ever, thanks to their powerful family of Claude models that compete with OpenAI's products. Recently, Microsoft, which has backed OpenAI, integrated Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet model into the coding assistant GitHub Copilot. At the World Economic Forum at Davos, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei expressed that he had never felt more confident than he did at that moment about the proximity of powerful AI systems. "What I've seen inside Anthropic and out of that over the last few months led me to believe that we're on track for human-level systems that surpass humans in every task within 2-3 years," Amodei said. He also announced plans to build a "virtual collaborator," a comprehensive AI agent that can autonomously handle multiple everyday tasks. That said, Anthropic is also planning to release its powerful Claude 3.5 Opus model, as per Amodei. "Not giving you an exact date, but as far as we know, the plan is still to have a Claude 3.5 Opus," said Amodei in a podcast episode with Lex Fridman. According to reports, Anthropic has finished training Claude 3.5 Opus, which "performed well, with it scaling appropriately". In October 2024, OpenAI, Anthropic's leading competitor, had raised $6.6 billion at a valuation of $157 billion. In December, the company launched their powerful o3 family of models, which outperformed every other model in benchmarks. OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman also revealed that after external testing by safety researchers, the o3 mini model will be released in the coming weeks.

Google agrees to new $1 billion investment in Anthropic

Dario Amodei, Anthropic CEO, speaking on CNBC's Squawk Box outside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 21st, 2025. Google has agreed to a new investment of more than $1 billion in generative AI startup Anthropic, a source familiar with the situation confirmed to CNBC. The fresh funding builds on Google's past investments of $2 billion in Anthropic and 10% ownership stake in the startup, as well as a large cloud contract between the two companies. Anthropic is most well known for its Claude AI chatbot. The agreement comes as Anthropic, one of the key players in Silicon Valley's artificial intelligence arms race, is in late-stage talks to raise a funding round of $2 billion at a $60 billion valuation led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, CNBC reported earlier this month. In December, Anthropic's revenue hit an annualized $1 billion, which was an increase of roughly 10x year over year, the source said. The company's revenue comes primarily from enterprise sales. Financial Times was first to report Google's investment. Anthropic, which has been backed heavily by Amazon, was founded by former OpenAI research executives. It launched Claude in March 2023, and like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini, Claude has exploded in popularity as businesses incorporate generative AI chatbots across sales, marketing and customer service functions. The generative AI market, which includes Anthropic and OpenAI as well as Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta, is predicted to top $1 trillion in revenue within a decade. Amazon and Microsoft, which is OpenAI's principal investor, are backing generative AI startups with hefty investments as well as developing their own technologies. Amazon announced that it would invest an additional $4 billion in Anthropic in November. That brought Amazon's total investment in the startup to $8 billion. Amazon remains a minority investor, Anthropic confirmed to CNBC at the time, and does not have a board seat. As part of that investment, Amazon Web Services became Anthropic's "primary cloud and training partner." Anthropic has used Amazon Web Services' Trainium and Inferentia chips to train and deploy its largest AI models since then. Anthropic ramped up its technology development throughout last year, and in October, the startup said that its AI agents were able to use computers like humans can to complete complex tasks. Anthropic's Computer Use capability allows its technology to interpret what's on a computer screen, select buttons, enter text, navigate websites and execute tasks through any software and real-time internet browsing, the startup said. The tool can "use computers in basically the same way that we do," Jared Kaplan, Anthropic's chief science officer, told CNBC in an interview at the time. He said it can do tasks with "tens or even hundreds of steps." OpenAI reportedly plans to introduce a similar feature soon. Anthropic debuted Claude 3.5 Sonnet, its more powerful AI model, in June, and the startup rolled out Claude Enterprise, its biggest new product since the launch of its chatbot, in September.

Google invests further $1bn in OpenAI rival Anthropic

Google is making a fresh investment of more than $1bn into OpenAI rival Anthropic, boosting its position in the start-up as Silicon Valley titans rush to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence systems. The Alphabet-owned search behemoth had already committed about $2bn to Anthropic and was now increasing its stake in the group, according to four people with knowledge of the situation. Anthropic, best known for its Claude family of AI models, is one of the leading start-ups in the new wave of generative AI companies building tools to generate text, images and code in response to user prompts. Google invented the technology on which models such as Claude and OpenAI's GPT4 are built, but it has lagged behind in the race to commercialise the powerful technology. The Anthropic investment is part of the Silicon Valley company's efforts to diversify its AI business and take on deep-pocketed competitors, including Microsoft, Meta and Amazon. Anthropic was also on the cusp of securing a further $2bn from Silicon Valley venture capital investors, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, in a separate deal expected to triple the start-up's valuation to about $60bn, according to several people with direct knowledge of the deal. The start-up is in a fierce competition with rivals OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI, both of which raised more than $10bn last year, as well as Facebook parent Meta and Microsoft. The new tranche of money from Google into Anthropic adds to a total investment of $8bn from Amazon, the ecommerce giant's largest-ever venture investment, announced over the past 18 months. Amazon is also working to embed the Claude models into the next-generation version of its Alexa speaker. The close relationships between AI start-ups and their Big Tech backers were probed by the Federal Trade Commission during Joe Biden's administration. Under outgoing commissioner Lina Khan, the FTC had targeted investments from Google and Amazon into Anthropic and Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI, reviewing the impact of the deals on competition in the nascent sector. But with Khan stepping down in the coming weeks, dealmakers are growing more confident in their ability to forge tie-ups. Anthropic's revenue hit an annualised $1bn in December, up roughly 10 times on a year earlier, according to a person with knowledge of the company's finances. Nonetheless, investors are not anticipating that Anthropic or its rivals will be profitable in the near future, given the steep costs of developing leading AI models. With new breakthroughs, they believe the technology could ultimately create trillions of dollars in value. "Right now I'm more confident than I have been at any previous time that we are very close to powerful capabilities . . . AI systems that are better than almost all humans at almost all tasks," Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei said in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday. Anthropic, founded in 2021 by a group of former OpenAI employees, has sought to differentiate itself from its rivals by focusing on AI safety. It has poached multiple staff from OpenAI in recent months, including a co-founder of the company. The group was also first to release certain features, such as the ability for its AI to control computers, and is focused this year, alongside rivals, on creating AI agents -- software that can complete tasks and navigate the web on behalf of human users.

Google is investing another billion dollars in Anthropic

Google has decided to invest another billion into Anthropic, four sources told the , bringing its total sunk cost to more than three billion dollars. Both companies have declined to comment. Google uses Anthropic's Claude AI models on , an AI-powered development platform. Amazon has also into Anthropic to integrate its Claude AI models into the next generation of Alexa speakers. Other sources say Anthropic is also with Lightspeed Venture Partners to raise another two billion. This investment would make Anthropic worth 60 billion. Even so, investors don't believe that Anthropic or its rivals will be profitable soon due to the extreme costs of developing AI models. Google transformers, a type of neural network that became a backbone technology for AI models, back in 2017. Despite some success with like Gemini, Imagen, Chirp, Veo and more, Google doesn't have as significant a foothold in the generative AI market. Having so many big tech companies backing AI start-ups alarmed the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which Google parent Alphabet's first $2.3 billion investment in Anthropic. However, as the Financial Times notes, FTC commissioner Lina Khan, who had a reputation as an aggressive antitrust enforcer, has since stepped down from her post at the head of the agency as the Trump regime took power, which could mean similar deals might not receive the same scrutiny in the future.

Anthropic reportedly secures an additional $1B from Google | TechCrunch

Anthropic has reportedly raised around $1 billion from Google as the AI company looks to deliver a number of major product updates this year. First reported by the Financial Times, Google's fresh investment brings the tech giant's total stake in Anthropic to around $3 billion. Google poured $2 billion into Anthropic late last year. Anthropic, which is also in the process of raising up to $2 billion from investors including Lightspeed at a $60 billion valuation, has an ambitious roadmap for 2025. In a series of interviews yesterday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said that the company plans to launch new AI models, bring "two-way" voice chat and web access to its chatbot, Claude, and roll out an AI system called the "Virtual Collaborator." According to Amodei, the Virtual Collaborator will run on PCs, execute workflows, write and compile code (and verify the results), and interact with users through apps like Slack and Google Docs. According to Crunchbase, the outfit has now raised $14.7 billion altogether.

Google reportedly pumps $1bn more into Anthropic

The new deal will take Google's total investments into Anthropic to more than $3bn. Google is reportedly investing more than $1bn in fresh investments into Anthropic, weeks after reports surfaced that the AI start-up is nearing a $2bn funding deal. First reported by the Financial Times today (22 January), the new deal would take Google's total investments into the OpenAI-rival to more than $3bn - which it pumped over the last two years. Additionally, Anthropic's $2bn funding round deal, reportedly to be led by Lightspeed Venture Partners - which remains unconfirmed still - would push the three-year-old company to a $60bn valuation. Moreover, reports also suggest that the start-up's annualised revenue for 2024 grew by more than 1,000pc to $1bn. Google's latest billion-dollar investment into Anthropic follows a $2bn pump into the start-up in 2023, which included $500m in cash infusion and an additional $1.5bn over time. Earlier that year, Google invested $300m in the company for a 10pc stake, and around the same time, Anthropic agreed to make Google Cloud its "preferred cloud provider" with the companies "co-develop[ing] AI computing systems". Moreover, Amazon has pumped $8bn into Anthropic over the years, starting with a $1.25bn initial investment in 2023, giving the e-commerce giant a minority stake in the business, followed by $2.75bn in March 2024, and an additional $4bn last November. Last year, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority investigated Google's parent company Alphabet and its links with Anthropic. However, it concluded that their proposed deal did not qualify for an investigation, finding that Alphabet would not have "material influence" over the AI start-up as a result of the partnership. Anthropic, which was founded in 2021 by a number of OpenAI detractors stands as strong competition against the ChatGPT-maker, which is currently valued at nearly $160bn. The Claude-maker, which poses as a 'public benefit corporation' calls itself an "AI safety and research company", even developing a framework for assessing different AI capabilities to respond to emerging risks. However, last year a trio of authors took Anthropic to court over claims that the company used pirated versions of various copyrighted material to train Claude. Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

Google Invests Another $1B in Anthropic Amid Runaway AI Valuations

Venture funding in AI startups has exploded in the last year, driving valuations to new heights. Over the past year, valuations for AI labs have ballooned to astronomical figures as the most valuable startups have pulled in multi-billion dollar funding rounds. In the latest instance of the trend, Google is reportedly preparing to invest another $1 billion in Anthropic, with reports suggesting the Claude developer's next funding round could value it at over $60 billion. Anthropic Secures Additional Billions When Anthropic last raised capital in March 2024, the company was valued at $18.4 billion. Now, less than a year later, its next funding round will reportedly more than triple that valuation to $60 billion. The $60 billion figure was recently disclosed by the Wall Street Journal, which reported that Lightspeed Venture Partners will lead a major funding round. The deal with Google forms a separate investment, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, Jan. 22. Google has already committed $2 billion to Anthropic. Meanwhile, in November, Amazon doubled its investment in the AI startup to $4 billion. AI Startup Valuations Balloon Anthropic's latest valuation cements its position as the second most valuable AI startup after OpenAI. In October, OpenAI closed a $6.6 billion funding round at a $157 billion valuation. Both companies managed to at least double their valuation between rounds, with OpenAI pulling off the feat repeatedly. Growth has been even more aggressive for the new kid on the block -- Elon Musk's xAI. Runaway venture funding suggests the AI sector is still in its early growth phase. With Big Tech players and major corporate technology investors fueling development, securing market share is currently being prioritized over profits. Nonetheless, the explosion in AI startup valuations underscores the industry's rising economic influence. Alongside massive investments into a handful of big-name startups, even more money is being directed toward AI infrastructure. For instance, on Tuesday, Jan. 21, Donald Trump announced a new joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle, and Softbank that will invest $500 billion to build U.S. data centers over the next four years.

Google Deepens Anthropic Partnership With New $1 Billion Investment | PYMNTS.com

The tech giant had already given Anthropic around $2 billion and is now upping its stake in the company as it races to bolster its AI offerings, the Financial Times (FT) reported Wednesday (Jan. 22), citing sources with knowledge of the matter. As the FT points out, Google created the technology that makes AI models like Anthropic's Claude possible. However, the company has struggled to commercialize its AI, making the Anthropic investment a way to help it compete with the likes of Amazon and Meta. Sources say Anthropic was also on the verge of landing another $2 billion from a group of venture capital investors. This additional deal was expected to bring Anthropic's valuation to the neighborhood of $60 billion. It's also in stiff competition from companies like OpenAI and xAI, along with Meta and Microsoft. This latest investment from Google is on top of $8 billion Anthropic raised from Amazon, which is aiming to integrate Claude into the next iteration of its Alexa assistant tool. As the FT notes, the close relationships between AI startups and their Big Tech sponsors were investigated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) during Joe Biden's administration. In a report issued in the closing days of the Biden administration, the FTC examined the relationship between cloud service providers like Google and AI developers such as Anthropic. "As companies rapidly deploy generative AI technologies, enforcers and policymakers must stay vigilant to guard against business strategies that undermine open markets, opportunity and innovation," FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said in a news release accompanying the report. "The FTC's report sheds light on how partnerships by big tech firms can create lock-in, deprive startups of key AI inputs and reveal sensitive information that can undermine fair competition." However, the FT report points out, Khan is scheduled to step down in the weeks ahead, leaving dealmakers more bullish about the connections between big tech and AI startups. Also Wednesday, Sam Hamilton, head of AI and data for Visa, explored the impact of generative AI in an interview with PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster. "I can't think of one area that GenAI is not going to transform," said Hamilton. "There's going to be dramatic change ... the AI timeline is very fast." AI large language models (LLMs) are "progressing nicely" Hamilton said: the ways in which we interact with computers are evolving to a state where it may feel as though we're talking to another human being, not a machine.

Google Invests Another $1 Billion in AI Developer Anthropic

Alphabet Inc.'s Google is backing artificial intelligence developer Anthropic with a further $1 billion, building its stake in one of the most promising rivals to OpenAI. The new funding comes in addition to more than $2 billion that Google has already invested in Anthropic, according to a person familiar with the deal, who asked not to be named discussing a private matter. Google has a business agreement with Anthropic that covers the use of a suite of online tools and services. Amazon.com Inc. counts among its biggest backers.

Google Steps Up AI Race With Fresh $1 Billion Investment in OpenAI Rival Anthropic

Google is making a fresh investment of more than $1 billion into AI startup Anthropic, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. This comes after Reuters and other media reported earlier in January that Anthropic was nearing a $2 billion fundraise in a round, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, valuing the firm at about $60 billion. The FT said that Google's new investment was separate from the Lightspeed funding round. Anthropic, a major competitor of OpenAI in the AI foundation model space, declined to comment. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.

Anthropic Snags Another $1B From Amazon; OpenAI Joins Data Center Push

Anthropic, a ChatGPT rival with its AI assistant Claude, is reportedly taking in a fresh $1 billion investment from previous investor Google. The new funding also comes just a couple of weeks after it was reported the startup was in advanced talks to raise $2 billion in a deal led by Lightspeed Venture Partners that would value it at $60 billion. Anthropic was last valued at $18.5 billion last February. This deal also comes just two months after Amazon agreed to invest another $4 billion in an AI startup. That deal followed Amazon's 2023 announcement to invest up to $4 billion in Anthropic -- a deal that gave the Seattle-based e-commerce and cloud titan a minority stake in the startup. The Anthropic news comes just after OpenAI made waves of its own, as the White House announced a new partnership between the ChatGPT developer, SoftBank and Oracle to help build out $100 billion to $500 billion in AI datacenters and infrastructure. The new undertaking has been dubbed the Stargate Project. Billions of dollars have been earmarked to build out new data centers for AI initiatives. Last year Amazon said it plans to invest $100 billion in AI data centers in the next decade, while OpenAI and Microsoft entered into a joint data center project that is expected to cost $100 billion.

Google boosts stake in AI start-up Anthropic with $1 bln investment, FT reports By Investing.com

Investing.com-- Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has invested an additional $1 billion into Anthropic, a leading AI start-up, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday citing sources familiar with the matter. The move strengthens Alphabet-owned (NASDAQ:GOOG) Google's position in the AI race as it continues to challenge competitors like Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META), the report stated. This new investment builds on the $2 billion Google had already committed to Anthropic, which is best known for its Claude family of AI models. The investment is part of Google's broader effort to diversify its artificial intelligence business and capitalize on its early role in developing AI technologies. Despite pioneering the foundational technology for models like Claude and OpenAI's GPT-4, Google has faced challenges in commercializing these advancements, the FT report stated.

Anthropic Gains Big With Google Backing, Aims for $60 Billion Valuation and Surging AI Revenue - Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Anthropic's valuation may triple to $60 billion as it secures more funding, with annualized revenue hitting $1 billion in December. Alphabet Inc's GOOG GOOGL Google earmarked over $1 billion investment into OpenAI rival Anthropic, intensifying its rivalry with Microsoft Corp MSFT, Meta Platforms Inc META and Amazon.Com Inc AMZN. In 2023, Google committed up to $2 billion to the Microsoft-backed OpenAI rival, Financial Times reports, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter. The new tranche of money from Google into Anthropic adds to Amazon's total investment of $8 billion. Also Read: Apple's iPhone Dependence Remains, But Services, Wearables Offer Growth Potential: Analyst Google invented the technology on which Anthropic's Claude and OpenAI's GPT4 models are built. Anthropic was also on the verge of securing a further $2 billion from Silicon Valley venture capital investors in a deal likely to triple the start-up's valuation to about $60 billion, Financial Times cites unnamed sources familiar with the deal. Like Meta and Microsoft, OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI raised over $10 billion in 2024. According to Financial Times, Anthropic's revenue hit an annualized $1 billion in December, up roughly 10 times on a year earlier. Prior reports indicated that OpenAI, worth $157 billion, will be restructuring its non-profit structure into a public benefit corporation in 2025 as developing large-scale language models requires substantial investments. In related news, on Tuesday, OpenAI, SoftBank SFTBF SFTBY, and Oracle Corp ORCL introduced a $500 billion joint venture, Stargate, to build AI infrastructure in the U.S. Stargate's debut project will focus on creating a large-scale data center in Texas, with plans to expand to other states. Also, in January, Microsoft launched its CoreAI division to streamline AI tools and build AI apps. The company committed $80 billion for AI-driven data centers. Price Action: GOOGL stock is up 0.38% at $200.39 premarket at the last check on Wednesday. Also Read: AWS, Robotics, Prime Video Ads Fuel Amazon Growth Potential: Analysts Photo courtesy: Shutterstock GOOGLAlphabet Inc$198.670.31%Overview Rating:Good62.5%Technicals Analysis1000100Financials Analysis400100WatchlistOverviewAMZNAmazon.com Inc$232.880.94%GOOGAlphabet Inc$200.220.30%METAMeta Platforms Inc$624.061.23%MSFTMicrosoft Corp$437.372.07%ORCLOracle Corp$187.968.92%SFTBFSoftBank Group Corp$54.52-11.8%SFTBYSoftBank Group Corp$34.5512.4%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs