The agreement, which expands a partnership the two companies began in 2023, strengthens Amazon’s place in the fast-growing market for advanced computing services.

Amazon said it will invest $5 billion in Anthropic immediately, with a further $20 billion available later if agreed commercial targets are met. That comes on top of the $8 billion Amazon has already invested in the company.

Anthropic, the maker of Claude, said it will use current and future generations of Amazon’s Trainium chips to train and run its models, expecting to secure up to five gigawatts of computing capacity over time.

The company also confirmed that one gigawatt of capacity using Trainium2 and Trainium3 chips should be available by the end of this year.

Giving Anthropic more access to the large-scale infrastructure needed to support high demand, Amazon gets a major long-term customer for its custom-built chips and cloud services.

More than 100,000 customers already use Anthropic’s Claude models on AWS, according to the companies.

Customers will also be able to access Anthropic’s Claude Platform directly through AWS accounts, allowing them to use existing billing, security controls and monitoring tools without separate contracts.

Amazon has invested heavily in expanding data centres and computing power as demand for advanced software tools rises. The company recently said it expects around $200 billion in capital spending this year, with much of that linked to technology infrastructure.

Chief Executive Andy Jassy said Anthropic’s long-term use of Trainium chips showed the progress both companies had made together.

“Our custom AI silicon offers high performance at significantly lower cost for customers, which is why it’s in such hot demand,” he said.

“Anthropic’s commitment to run its large language models on AWS Trainium for the next decade reflects the progress we’ve made together on custom silicon, as we continue delivering the technology and infrastructure our customers need to build with generative AI.”

Anthropic Chief Executive and co-founder Dario Amodei said demand for Claude continued to grow quickly.

“Our users tell us Claude is increasingly essential to how they work, and we need to build the infrastructure to keep pace with rapidly growing demand,” he said.

“Our collaboration with Amazon will allow us to continue advancing AI research while delivering Claude to our customers, including the more than 100,000 building on AWS.”

Amazon shares rose about 2.7% in extended trading after the announcement.

The talks are described as “very fluid,” and no final decision has been made.

The potential investment comes as competition within the tech industry increases over AI computing power. OpenAI has already signed multi-billion-dollar agreements with Nvidia, Oracle, and Microsoft, as well as a $38-billion cloud services deal with Amazon in November.

“OpenAI plans to use Amazon’s Trainium chips,” The Information reported, which compete with Nvidia and Google’s chips. The report also revealed that Amazon’s funding could lead to a fundraising round with other investors. 

OpenAI is exploring selling an enterprise version of ChatGPT to Amazon, though it is murky if this would include integration with Amazon’s own shopping features.

The talks stress OpenAI’s transition from its non-profit roots. The company restructured in 2023 as a public benefit corporation controlled by a non-profit with a financial stake, removing limitations to raising capital and securing computing resources. Microsoft now holds a 27% stake in OpenAI and has exclusive rights to sell its models to Azure customers.

OpenAI is also preparing for an initial public offering in 2026 that could value the company at up to $1 trillion, Reuters reported in October, potentially making it one of the largest tech listings ever. 

Reports say an Amazon investment could complicate the current Microsoft arrangement and may lead to multi-cloud distribution of OpenAI models.

Despite the surge in AI investment, investors are being careful. The global AI market is expected to surpass $300 billion annually by 2027, but profitability and the sustainability of massive infrastructure spending are still concerns.

OpenAI, Amazon, and Microsoft did not respond to requests for comment.