The recent alliance between OpenAI, Arm (SoftBank), Microsoft and Oracle to launch Project Stargate appears to have alerted Alphabet (Google) to its ability to advance competitors in the development of artificial intelligence infrastructure. Against this background, Google decided to invest another $1 billion in the capital of Anthropic, a startup founded by people from OpenAI, which it already supports financially.
Image source: Anthropic
So far, Google’s investment in Anthropic has been capped at more than $2 billion, but it could be increased by another $1 billion, according to reports from Bloomberg, which cite people familiar with the matter. The companies have a collaboration agreement that covers Google’s online tools and services. In addition to Alphabet, Amazon is a major investor in Anthropic’s capital.
Bloomberg previously reported on Anthropic’s negotiations with Lightspeed Venture Partners regarding a new round of financing in the amount of $2 billion, which would raise the startup’s capitalization to $60 billion. Cloud market giants combine their own developments in the field of AI with solutions from startups that have proven themselves most clearly in the relevant field. In this sense, Google’s intentions to invest additional funds in Anthropic’s capital are not out of line with the general trend.