The UK has launched an investigation into Amazon’s $4 billion investment in AI startup Anthropic.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced it is opening an investigation into Amazon’s investment and partnership with Anthropic to assess whether their collaboration will harm competition in the regional market.

Image source: amazon.com

Following an initial review of the Amazon-Anthropic partnership, the CMA now has “sufficient information” in relation to the combination to launch a formal investigation, the agency said on its website.

At the first stage of the investigation (Phase 1), which is allotted 40 working days, the regulator will consider all the circumstances of the transaction to decide whether it poses a potential threat to competition in the UK market. If the suspicions are justified, the regulator will begin the second stage (Phase 2) of the investigation with an in-depth study of the details of the transaction.

In March of this year, Amazon completed its planned tranche of investment in Anthropic in the amount of $4 billion. Last September, the company invested $1.25 billion in the AI ​​startup, after which it allocated an additional $2.75 billion this year.

An Amazon spokesperson told CNBC that the company was disappointed that the CMA had launched the first stage of its investigation, noting that its collaboration with Anthropic did not raise any competition concerns and an investigation was not necessary.

«By investing in Anthropic, Amazon, along with other companies, is helping Anthropic expand choice and competition in this important technology. Amazon has no board seat or decision-making authority at Anthropic, and Anthropic is free to work with any other provider (and indeed has multiple partners),” an Amazon spokesperson said in an emailed statement to CNBC. He also added that Amazon will continue to provide customers with Anthropic AI models on its Bedrock platform.