AMD is doubling down on artificial intelligence with a major new partnership with Anthropic, announcing plans to invest up to $5 billion in the AI startup while providing the computing power needed to support its fast-growing Claude models.
The chipmaker said Anthropic will use its Helios rack-scale systems to deploy up to 2 gigawatts (GW) of AMD’s Instinct MI450 Series GPUs.
The first gigawatt of computing capacity is anticipated to be deployed in the first half of next year. “We’re excited to expand our partnership with Anthropic and deploy AMD Helios at gigawatt scale”, said AMD CEO Lisa Su in a statement.
AI infrastructure race continues to accelerate
The agreement comes as demand for AI infrastructure continues to surge, with companies racing to secure enough computing power to train and run increasingly sophisticated AI models.
Graphics processing units (GPUs) have become one of the most critical components in the AI industry because they handle the massive workloads required to power systems like Anthropic’s Claude. While Nvidia remains the dominant player in the market, AMD has been steadily expanding its footprint by partnering with leading AI companies.
Anthropic builds on earlier AI infrastructure
The company follows OpenAI, which earlier this year announced its own partnership with AMD. As part of the deal, AMD issued OpenAI warrants linked to future deployment milestones and AMD’s share price.
The partnership is another step in Anthropic’s efforts to meet one of its biggest challenges: rising demand.
Back in April, the company acknowledged that its infrastructure was struggling under the load of the popular Claude models, leading to reliability and performance problems during busy times.
Since then, Anthropic has been rapidly building up its computing power, through a series of headline-grabbing partnerships.
In May it struck a deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to use the full capacity of the Colossus 1 data center in Memphis, Tennessee. As part of the agreement, Anthropic is expected to pay $1.25 billion a month through May 2029.
The AI company has also signed major computing deals with Amazon, Google and Broadcom, and CNBC has previously reported it is in early discussions with Meta about leasing additional computing power.
Anthropic continues to grow at a rapid pace
In May, the company said its annualised revenue run rate had surged to more than $47 billion, up sharply from the roughly $10 billion it generated over the course of the previous year. Much of that growth has been fuelled by strong demand for Claude Code, its AI-powered coding assistant.
Investor interest has grown along with the business. The company, which closed a funding round at a reported $965 billion valuation in May, confidentially filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering the next month.
The deal adds another large AI customer for AMD as it continues to challenge Nvidia in the fast-growing AI chip market. For Anthropic, it provides the company with additional computing resources to support future growth as demand for generative AI tools continues to accelerate.
The deal is also a sign of a broader trend across the AI industry, where chipmakers and model makers are partnering ever more closely to lock in the infrastructure they need to power the next generation of artificial intelligence.
