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Big validation, bigger number
Alphabet investors woke up to a headline that basically screams: "Hey, Google Cloud, you’re not just playing catch-up anymore." The Information reported that Anthropic has committed to spend $200 billion with Google Cloud over five years, with the deal reportedly tied to cloud services and chips. Alphabet shares jumped in after-hours trading, with the market treating it like a fresh vote of confidence in Google’s AI stack.
Why this matters
For a company that’s been trying to prove its cloud business can hang with Amazon and Microsoft, this is the kind of headline that makes Wall Street lean forward in its chair. Anthropic is one of the hottest AI labs on the planet, so locking in that kind of spending could imply serious demand already baked into Google’s backlog — the corporate version of having your table at the hottest restaurant booked for the next five years.
The fine print matters
There’s one catch: Reuters said it couldn’t immediately verify the report, and Anthropic and Google didn’t comment. So treat this like a very spicy rumor until the paperwork or a company statement shows up. Still, even the possibility of a deal this large is enough to remind investors that AI compute isn’t a niche side quest anymore — it’s becoming the main event.
Big picture: if the report holds up, Alphabet just got a loud, expensive argument for why its cloud business deserves a bigger seat at the AI table.