Anthropic Says Google, AWS and Microsoft See It as a Rival

Anthropic said that its major cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services, Google and Microsoft, increasingly see it as a competitor. It also said it had asked for more computing capacity than “those partners were willing to provide.” These details come from a draft document prepared for Anthropic's planned initial public offering (IPO), which The Wall Street Journal reviewed and reported on 20 October 2026. Anthropic declined to comment.

The Journal also reported that Anthropic must pay about $450 billion under cloud computing agreements over the next seven to ten years. Most of these deals cannot be canceled. Below are the amounts promised to each partner, what Anthropic said about its own data centers, and how these details connect to our reporting on the computing market.

What the Draft Says About the Cloud Providers

The Wall Street Journal reported that Anthropic is running into limits even though it gets most of its computing capacity from major cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services, Google and Microsoft. According to the draft, as described by the Journal, Anthropic asked for more computing capacity than “those partners were willing to provide.” It also said these companies increasingly see Anthropic as a competitor.

The Journal reported that Anthropic plans to spend $111 billion on Google cloud computing contracts, $110 billion with Amazon Web Services and $31 billion with Microsoft. These payments are due “regardless of actual usage,” the Journal reported.

Beyond the Three Big Providers

The Journal reported that Anthropic also agreed to spend up to $86 billion renting Nvidia chips from smaller AI cloud providers Nscale and Lambda. These agreements run through 2033 and 2034, respectively. Anthropic has also made other cloud deals, the Journal reported.

The Journal reported that Anthropic's future infrastructure costs exceed $600 billion when its other agreements are included. These include an obligation of more than $160 billion to lease Google chips through a deal with Broadcom. The draft documents also show that Anthropic is discussing more computing deals that could add as much as $150 billion to its commitments.

Anthropic's Own Data Centers

Anthropic is building its own data center capacity by signing long-term leases and working with outside companies that run facilities for it, the Journal reported. Anthropic said some of these operators have “limited operating history.” It warned that their facilities may be less reliable than those run by major cloud providers.

Most of Anthropic's data center capacity is now in the United States. The company wants to build more data centers outside the country and has signed some letters of intent to do so, according to the draft prospectus as described by the Journal. Anthropic also warned that opposition to data centers has “become more organized and coordinated across jurisdictions.”

How This Connects to Our Other Reporting

This adds to our reporting earlier this month. Earlier today, we covered the main figures from the same draft: a net loss of $80.7 billion in the first half of the year, including $72 billion in accounting charges, against about $16.3 billion in revenue, as reported by the Journal. On 4 October, we covered a news report about Reuters' reporting on the confidential prospectus. It listed commitments of $111.1 billion to Google and $110 billion to Amazon.

On 19 October, we covered talks about a second $45 billion computing deal between Nscale and Anthropic. Bloomberg reported that the deal was not final. Earlier today, we also covered executives' expectation that only 7 to 10 neocloud providers would survive a period of industry change, based on information from The Information summarized by Stocktwits. We also covered Google and Amazon making their own AI chips available to PyTorch developers within two days, as reported by TechCrunch.

The Bigger Picture

In our view, the draft describes a problem with suppliers as well as a cost problem. Anthropic said it had asked for more computing capacity than “those partners were willing to provide,” according to the Journal.

In our view, the Journal's account also shows that Anthropic is seeking computing capacity beyond the three largest cloud providers. It has agreed to spend up to $86 billion with the smaller providers Nscale and Lambda, and it is developing its own data centers through long-term leases and outside operators.

In our view, both approaches have risks mentioned in the draft as reported by the Journal. Some operators have “limited operating history,” their facilities may be less reliable, and opposition to data centers has “become more organized and coordinated across jurisdictions.”

Three Important Points

$252B ACROSS THREE CLOUDS The Journal reported commitments of $111 billion to Google, $110 billion to Amazon Web Services and $31 billion to Microsoft, regardless of actual usage. The $252 billion total is calculated by us.

UP TO $86B WITH NEOCLOUDS According to the Journal, Anthropic agreed to spend up to $86 billion renting Nvidia chips from Nscale and Lambda through 2033 and 2034.

OVER $600B IN ALL The Journal reported that future infrastructure costs exceed $600 billion, including a deal worth more than $160 billion with Broadcom to lease Google chips. Anthropic is also discussing additional deals worth up to $150 billion.

The Business Engineer View

This story connects to the Business Engineer framework called The AI Capex Map & The State of AI Hyperscalers.

The framework describes the concentration of spending this way: “The $1T capex cycle is being underwritten by a $1T concentrated demand commitment from two counterparties whose combined free cash flow is deeply negative.”

In our view, the commitments from Anthropic's draft, as reported by the Journal, show what this situation looks like for one of those customers, including what it says about its suppliers. The framework was published in May 2026 and does not discuss Anthropic's draft prospectus.

What We Cannot Confirm

We have read the Wall Street Journal's article, not the draft prospectus itself. As far as we could check, the draft is not publicly available through the SEC's EDGAR system. The document could change before a final filing. The Journal's report does not explain which partner refused how much computing capacity, or how Anthropic decides whether a company sees it as a competitor. We have not seen the calculations behind the total of about $450 billion or the figure of more than $600 billion.

The Main Point

Anthropic said in its draft prospectus that its major cloud partners would not provide all the computing capacity it wanted and increasingly see it as a competitor, The Wall Street Journal reported. According to the Journal, the same draft lists $111 billion for Google, $110 billion for AWS and $31 billion for Microsoft, whether or not Anthropic uses all the capacity. In our view, the draft describes a company planning to spend $252 billion, by our calculation, with three providers that it says increasingly see it as a competitor. At the same time, Anthropic is making deals with smaller providers and developing its own data centers.