Google's investment strategy in AI is proving to be much deeper than previously announced. Recent court documents reveal that the Mountain View giant holds a 14% stake in Anthropic, the company behind Claude, and is set to inject an additional $750 million this year.
The AI ecosystem is characterized by a fierce race where tech giants are ramping up strategic investments. After announcing a new $1 billion investment in Anthropic last January, Google was already playing multiple angles in its confrontation with Microsoft and OpenAI. This new revelation about the true extent of its involvement in Anthropic unveils a strategy much more complex than initially perceived.
Anthropic continues its rapid progression with a recent $3.5 billion Series E funding round, boosting its post-money valuation to $61.5 billion. Despite its close financial ties with Google and Amazon, which has invested up to $8 billion, Google holds no voting rights or board seat in Anthropic, theoretically preserving the startup's operational autonomy.
