Microsoft and Nvidia Drop $15 Billion on OpenAI Competitor Anthropic

TLDR

• Microsoft and Nvidia are investing a combined $15 billion into Anthropic, with Microsoft contributing $5 billion and Nvidia $10 billion
• The deal values Anthropic at approximately $350 billion, nearly double its $183 billion September valuation
• Anthropic committed to $30 billion in Azure compute purchases and up to 1 gigawatt of additional capacity from both companies
• The partnership marks Nvidia’s first deep collaboration with Anthropic to optimize Claude AI models
• Microsoft continues to maintain its separate multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI

Two tech giants announced major investments in artificial intelligence startup Anthropic on Tuesday. Microsoft and Nvidia plan to invest a combined $15 billion into the company that develops Claude AI models.

Microsoft will contribute up to $5 billion to the deal. Nvidia will invest up to $10 billion. The investments push Anthropic’s valuation to around $350 billion.

This represents a jump from the company’s $183 billion valuation in September. A source familiar with the deal confirmed the new valuation. The terms of Anthropic’s next funding round are still being finalized.

Anthropic has agreed to purchase $30 billion of Azure compute capacity from Microsoft. The company also contracted for additional compute capacity reaching up to 1 gigawatt. The deal includes access to Nvidia’s Grace Blackwell and Vera Rubin systems.

First Major Partnership Between Nvidia and Anthropic

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang described the partnership as a dream come true. He said Nvidia has admired Anthropic’s work for years. This marks the first time the companies will partner deeply to accelerate Claude development.

The companies plan to collaborate on engineering and design work. They will optimize Anthropic’s AI models for better performance and efficiency. Nvidia will also tailor its architectures for Anthropic’s specific computational needs.

Former OpenAI research executives founded Anthropic in 2021. CEO Dario Amodei led the founding team. The startup is best known for creating the Claude family of large language models.

Amazon Web Services serves as Anthropic’s primary cloud provider since 2023. AWS became the primary training partner in 2024. Anthropic confirmed Amazon will continue in both roles despite the new partnerships.

Microsoft Balances Multiple AI Investments

Microsoft has poured billions into OpenAI since 2019. OpenAI launched ChatGPT and grew into one of the world’s fastest-growing companies. The startup completed a recapitalization process last month.

Microsoft owns a stake in OpenAI’s for-profit business worth $135 billion. This equals roughly 27% of OpenAI on an as-converted diluted basis. Microsoft outlined its OpenAI partnership formally last month.

CEO Satya Nadella addressed Microsoft’s strategy of investing in multiple AI companies. He said the industry must move past zero-sum thinking. Nadella explained the opportunity is too large for a winner-take-all approach.

The announcement comes one day before Nvidia reports its third-quarter earnings results. Investors will watch closely for updates on the company’s AI business growth.

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