Amazon and Anthropic Each Got What They Wanted
We wrote on November 7th that Amazon wanted concessions from Anthropic around AWS, including use of Amazon’s Tranium chips in exchange for a multi-billion Dollar investment. This deal was going to eventually get done. Amazon needs Anthropic’s Gen AI intellectual property and had already invested $4 billion in Anthropic. No way Amazon would blow up that partnership given time and money invested and no real other options (OpenAI and Cohere already have cloud dance partners and Google is a competitor). I’m not sure that Mistral was ever an option. Similarly, where would Anthropic look other than AWS? It has a small partnership with Google, but Google is largely cutting its own Gen AI path as far as IP is concerned. Microsoft is in bed with OpenAI. Amazon and Anthropic were each other’s best deal option. Should Gen AI move the needle for Amazon, it is easy to imagine Amazon eventually acquiring Anthropic and for Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei eventually becoming CEO of Amazon.
Today Anthropic announced that AWS will be its primary cloud and training partner.
Anthropic will assist with the continued development of Amazon’s Tranium chips within the AWS environment.
Anthropic will receive a $4 billion investment from Amazon (Amazon’s total Anthropic investment is $8 billion), while Amazon will remain a minority investor.
Read the press release HERE.