AMD announced on Wednesday that it plans to invest up to $5 billion in AI startup Anthropic. This investment will happen over time and is linked to certain conditions being met. As part of the deal, Anthropic will buy up to 2 gigawatts (GW) of AMD’s latest-generation AI chips. The chip purchases are expected to begin in the first half of 2027, according to AMD.
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The investment is connected to specific deployment milestones. This means AMD will release the money only after certain agreed goals are achieved. AMD is trying to grow its position in the fast-growing AI chip market. The company wants to become a stronger competitor as more AI developers look for alternatives to Nvidia, according to Reuters.
Nvidia is currently the biggest player in the AI chip industry. AMD sees this deal as an opportunity to attract customers who want more choices for AI hardware. Anthropic is rapidly expanding its AI business and needs much more computing power. The company is looking for enough chips and infrastructure to meet rising demand for its AI services.
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The Wall Street Journal reported that Anthropic will use some of AMD’s AI chips in its own data centers. The startup plans to run part of its AI systems using its own infrastructure. Anthropic is also expected to lease extra computing capacity from cloud providers and “neocloud” operators. This will help the company get even more AI computing power without building everything itself.
Also read: Why Anthropic doubled its AI policy funding to $40 million amid growing AI safety concerns
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AMD is discussing a financial backstop for Anthropic’s future data-center leases. This means AMD could help support or guarantee some of Anthropic’s future data-center rental commitments, according to The Wall Street Journal. AMD CEO Lisa Su said the engineering teams from both companies have already been working together for some time. She said the partnership did not start recently, according to AMD.
Lisa Su added that building large AI computing systems requires long-term planning. She said companies need to prepare well in advance because AI infrastructure projects are very large and complex. The agreement shows that AMD and Anthropic are planning for AI growth several years ahead. The chip deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2027, showing both companies are preparing for future demand.
The partnership benefits both companies. AMD gets a major customer for its AI chips, while Anthropic secures access to large amounts of computing power needed to train and run advanced AI models, according to Reuters. The deal is another sign that competition in the AI industry is increasing. Chipmakers are racing to supply AI companies, while AI startups are signing long-term agreements to make sure they have enough computing capacity.
