Microsoft and Nvidia Invest Billions in AI Startup Anthropic

REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft and Nvidia have formed significant investment agreements with AI startup Anthropic, pushing the startup’s valuation to approximately $350 billion.

On Tuesday, Microsoft announced plans to invest up to $5 billion, while Nvidia will contribute up to $10 billion. These investments signal a shift in strategy for Microsoft as it aims to reduce its reliance on OpenAI, a direct competitor to Anthropic.

The funding marks a notable increase from Anthropic’s valuation of $183 billion in September. Sources close to the deal stated that the specifics of the investment round are still being finalized.

As part of the agreements, Anthropic will purchase $30 billion worth of Azure compute resources from Microsoft and will have access to up to 1 gigawatt of Microsoft’s computing capacity. Additionally, the startup plans to acquire similar computing power from Nvidia’s advanced hardware systems.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership: “This is a dream come true for us. We’ve admired the work of Anthropic and Dario for a long time, and this is the first time we’ll be working closely to accelerate Claude,” he stated in a video announcing the collaboration.

With this partnership, Nvidia and Anthropic will work together on engineering solutions aimed at optimizing Anthropic’s AI models for better performance and efficiency, while also aligning Nvidia’s hardware with Anthropic’s specific needs.

Microsoft has heavily invested in OpenAI, holding a roughly 27% stake in the company, valued at about $135 billion. However, the new agreements with Anthropic indicate Microsoft’s desire to diversify its AI partnerships. Customers using Microsoft Foundry will now have access to Anthropic’s Claude models, enhancing the offerings available through Microsoft’s Copilot tools.

Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers, including CEO Dario Amodei, Anthropic has established a strong presence in the competitive AI market with its Claude family of language models. Amazon provides cloud services for Anthropic, which has been a critical partner since 2023.

In a recent statement, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella highlighted the need for collaboration in the AI industry. He remarked, “We really need to move beyond zero-sum narratives. What’s required now is the hard work of building broad, durable capabilities together to ensure this technology delivers tangible success for every sector and customer.”