Amazon's AI jackpot: Its $8 billion Anthropic holdings are now worth $74 billion

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy Fortune/Reuters Amazon's $8 billion Anthropic stake has soared to $74 billion. The companies built a successful partnership, with AWS running Anthropic models for cloud customers. Anthropic said on Monday it filed confidentially for an IPO. Amazon's investment in Anthropic has become one of the most lucrative bets in the cloud giant's history. Amazon's original $8 billion investment in the AI startup has swelled into a stake worth roughly $74 billion on paper as Anthropic's valuation has soared, according to a quarterly filing from late April. In the filing, Amazon said that as of March 31, it held about $42.2 billion worth of Anthropic convertible notes and $32 billion worth of Anthropic nonvoting preferred stock. Taken together, those holdings were worth roughly $74.2 billion at that time. The value of these stakes may have risen further since then. Amazon's growing Anthropic holdings, accumulated through late 2023 to 2025, are coming into greater focus as the AI startup readies an initial public offering. On Monday, Anthropic said it had filed confidentially filed for an IPO . The AI startup was valued at $61.5 billion in a funding round last year before climbing to $183 billion and then $380 billion earlier this year. More recently, Anthropic reached a $965 billion valuation, surpassing OpenAI as the world's most valuable AI startup. The gains have already started flowing through Amazon's financial results. In the first quarter of 2026 alone, Amazon recorded $12.3 billion in "Other income" as a result of "upward adjustment" tied to its Anthropic holdings, according to the quarterly filing. The company also said it previously recorded approximately $3.3 billion and $4.5 billion in gains from note conversions in 2025 and early 2026. The latest figure is up from the roughly $61 billion value Amazon previously disclosed for its Anthropic stake in February. Amazon's relationship with Anthropic goes beyond ownership. Amazon Web Services, the world's largest cloud provider, offers Anthropic models through its Bedrock service. That's given the startup access to valuable corporate customers. The AI startup is also a major AWS customer, with large commitments for its Trainium AI chip, allowing Amazon to profit from both its investment gains and its spending on cloud infrastructure. In April, Amazon invested an additional $5 billion in Anthropic and up to an additional $20 billion in the future. Last week, Amazon deployed $5 billion from this commitment as part of Anthropic's latest funding round. Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at ekim@businessinsider.com or Signal, Telegram, or WhatsApp at 650-942-3061 . Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely . Read the original article on Business Insider