On September 25, Akamai rose 13.61% in regular trading, trading at $127.39/share, with turnover of $594 million. The surge was driven by the announcement of a landmark seven-year, $11.6 billion cloud computing agreement with AI company Anthropic, marking the largest contract in Akamai's history.

Under the agreement, Akamai Cloud's infrastructure will support Anthropic's growing CPU workload demands. The company estimated capital expenditures tied to the deal at approximately $5.5 billion, including a $1.7 billion increase to current-year capex, while management stated the deal would have no impact on current-year revenue guidance. Revenue from the partnership is expected to reach $150 million to $300 million next year. As part of the transaction, Akamai issued Anthropic warrants to purchase non-voting convertible Series B Preferred Stock representing approximately 7.7 million shares of common stock on an as-converted basis, at an exercise price of $111.33 per share, with roughly 2% vesting tied to the current commitment and the remainder vesting if the deal expands by up to $9 billion more.

Following the announcement, Piper Sandler raised its price target on Akamai from $125 to $158, maintaining an Overweight rating. The stock's average analyst price target stands at $160.95.

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