Artificial intelligence firm Anthropic has recently finalized a significant multibillion-dollar agreement with Google to bolster its computing infrastructure, crucial for the advanced operation of its AI chatbot, Claude. This strategic partnership aims to secure a substantial increase in the computing power available to Anthropic, underscoring the intense demand for specialized hardware in the rapidly expanding AI sector.

Announced on Thursday, the deal grants Anthropic access to an impressive one million of Google's proprietary AI computer chips, known as Tensor Processing Units (TPUs). The agreement is reported to be valued in the tens of billions of dollars and is projected to bring "well over a gigawatt of capacity online in 2026." While a gigawatt is often referenced in the context of power plants as sufficient to power approximately 350,000 homes, in this context, it signifies a massive increase in computational capability for AI processing.

Anthropic, a privately held company established in 2021 by former leaders of OpenAI, is a significant competitor in the AI landscape. Its flagship AI assistant, Claude, directly rivals OpenAI’s ChatGPT, offering advanced capabilities to business customers for tasks like coding and other complex operations. Beyond Google's TPUs, Anthropic's AI systems also leverage chips from Nvidia and rely on the cloud computing division of Amazon, which was notably Anthropic's initial major investor and continues to serve as its primary cloud provider. Just last month, Anthropic's valuation reached $183 billion following a successful round of investments that secured an additional $13 billion.