Anthropic just handed Akamai a game-changing deal

Akamai Technologies (AKAM) is not a name that usually comes up when people talk about artificial intelligence. That changed on Thursday, September 24, 2026, when the cloud and cybersecurity company confirmed a seven-year, $11.6 billion cloud services deal with Anthropic.

The contract is the biggest in Akamai’s history, and it could grow to about $20 billion if Anthropic buys more services over time. AKAM shares jumped as much as 16.4% during Friday trading on September 25, 2026, before closing near $115. Wall Street analysts raised their price targets within hours, including Morgan Stanley, Guggenheim, JPMorgan, and Oppenheimer.

Akamai has slowly moved from its old business, which is helping websites load faster, and cybersecurity, into renting out cloud computing power to other companies. This Anthropic deal proves that diversification is working. But the deal also comes with heavy spending and some stock dilution that shareholders should understand before buying.

Inside Akamai’s $11.6 billion Anthropic contract

Akamai will supply dedicated cloud capacity to run Anthropic’s AI workloads for seven years, according to Akamai‘s announcement. The deal focuses on central processing units (CPUs), which are the general-purpose chips that handle everyday computing tasks. That is different from most other big AI deals, which center on graphics processing units (GPUs) sold by Nvidia (NVDA). GPUs train large AI models, while CPUs handle the coordination work that AI agents do when they perform tasks like booking travel or answering support questions.

The deal can grow by another $9 billion if Anthropic keeps buying more Akamai services, taking the total to about $20 billion. As part of the arrangement, Akamai gave Anthropic a financial contract that lets Anthropic buy up to 5% of Akamai’s stock at $111.33 per share, TechCrunch reported. About 2% of that stake becomes available right away, and each extra $3 billion Anthropic spends unlocks another 1%.

“Anthropic is advancing the AI revolution and we are thrilled they chose Akamai’s capabilities for building and operating AI infrastructure at scale,” Akamai co-founder and CEO Dr. Tom Leighton said in the announcement. Leighton has led Akamai since 2013.

How Akamai makes money and where this deal fits in

Akamai started in 1998 with a product that helps websites load faster by delivering content from a server close to you rather than a distant one. Over the years, it added cybersecurity tools that block bots and online attacks.

In 2022, it bought Linode and began renting out computing power to other companies. This part of the business is called cloud infrastructure services (CIS). Security and cloud now drive most of Akamai’s growth, while the old business has been shrinking.

More AI Stocks:

• OpenAI CFO offers calming message amid AI slowdown fears
• U.S. senator sends 7-word doomsday AI warning amid industry panic
• BofA cuts to the chase on AI data center demand

In the first quarter of 2026, Akamai reported revenue of $1.074 billion, up 6% year over year, according to its SEC release. Security revenue rose 11% to $590 million, and cloud infrastructure services revenue jumped 40% during Q1, though CIS was still a small part of total sales. The Anthropic deal changes that.

Akamai expects the yearly cloud revenue from this contract alone to reach about $1.7 billion by the end of 2028, CNBC reported, which would reshape the company’s growth outlook.

Wall Street repositions on Akamai after its biggest contract yet

Analysts at major firms raised price targets and revenue forecasts within hours of the announcement. Morgan Stanley kept its Overweight rating and $165 price target, and now expects Akamai’s revenue growth in 2027 to jump from 12.5% to about 16%. That is a big move from the 5% growth Akamai reported in 2025.

Related: Veteran analyst says buy Vertiv despite huge gains already

Guggenheim raised its price target on AKAM to $225 from $190 with a Buy rating. JPMorgan lifted its target to $167 from $158, and UBS moved to $148 from $143 while staying Neutral. Piper Sandler analyst James Fish kept an Overweight rating and raised his target to $158 from $125, saying the deal turns Akamai “from a value asset to a hypergrowth” asset, Stocktwits reported.

Oppenheimer analysts, who kept an Outperform rating and $180 target, wrote that the deal “shows that Akamai’s distributed cloud can win frontier AI workloads.” They estimate that Anthropic’s $1.7 billion in yearly revenue means about 77 megawatts of new cloud capacity for Akamai, and they expect similar deals from other AI companies could follow.

The trade-offs shareholders should weigh before buying AKAM

Akamai plans to spend about $5.5 billion to build the capacity for Anthropic over the seven-year term, Yahoo Finance reported. The company is raising its 2026 capital spending by about $1.7 billion to secure memory chips and supply chain parts, and says the deal will not add to revenue this fiscal year.

The warrant given to Anthropic could also dilute existing shareholders by up to 5% over time. That means each share would represent a smaller piece of the company as Anthropic buys more stock. New investors have to decide whether the recurring cloud revenue starting in late 2027 will offset the near-term spending and dilution.

Concentration risk is another thing to watch. When one customer makes up a big share of revenue, that customer’s problems affect the whole company. Some Wall Street analysts have already mentioned concerns about Akamai relying too much on Anthropic, Investopedia reported. Investors interested in the AI infrastructure market can consider going for AKAM, but should evaluate the risks involved before buying in.

Related: Truist cuts Broadcom stock target on rattling Q4 outlook