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Investing.com — Amazon (NASDAQ:) said on Monday that it is aiming to invest up to $4 billion in artificial intelligence group Anthropic, as the tech giant looks to bolster its position in the corporate arms race over nascent AI technology.
Under the terms of the agreement, Amazon will place an intial investment of $1.25B in Anthropic for a minority stake in the rival to ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, according to multiple media sources. The figure could then expand to $4B depending on certain conditions. Anthropic will then have access to Amazon’s cloud computing platform to help optimize its AI systems, known as large language models.
Anthropic garnered a valuation of almost $5B in its last funding round earlier this year, the Financial Times reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.
“We have tremendous respect for Anthropic’s team and foundation models, and believe we can help improve many customer experiences, short and long-term, through our deeper collaboration,” said Amazon Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy in a statement.
The move is the latest sign that Amazon, one of the technology sector’s biggest players, is becoming increasingly focused on building out its generative AI offerings. Along with Anthropic’s chatbot, Amazon is also trying to brand its Inferentia and Trainium AI chips as possible alternatives to popular processors made by Nvidia (NASDAQ:).
“Amazon’s prioritization of AI has been an area of investor debate in recent quarters,” analysts at Wedbush said in a note to clients. They added that the Anthropic announcement signals “a newfound urgency in Amazon’s strategy to further integrate generative AI” into its cloud computing operation, Amazon Web Services.
Shares in Amazon were slightly higher in U.S. premarket trading.
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