Akamai launches $2.2 billion convertible sale for its Anthropic cloud build

Akamai·+1.77% — Akamai, up 1.77 percent as of its last quote Technologies, the cloud-computing and security company listed on Nasdaq as AKAM, launched $2.2 billion of convertible notes, debt that can turn into shares, on Monday, November 9, with options that could lift the sale to $2.5 billion, to fund the compute build behind its contract with the AI lab AnthropicPVT$350B — Anthropic, private, latest valuation $350B ¹.

The document that matters more came four days earlier: on November 5, the day Akamai reported earnings, its bank syndicate, with JPMorgan as agent, signed a fourth amendment to the credit agreement↗ letting leverage run as high as 6.25 times ¹.

We sized the seven-year, $11.6 billion Anthropic contract↗ when it was signed in September↗ ²; the new fact this week is who pays for it, and on what schedule.

The covenant schedule is the lenders' plan in plain numbers

The amendment lets consolidated leverage run at up to 6.25 to 1.00 for the quarters ending December 31, 2026, and March 31, 2027 ¹. From there the ceiling steps down every quarter to 3.75 to 1.00 by March 2028 ¹.

Read it as a bank-signed forecast: debt may peak while the capacity is still being built, and must shrink as contract revenue arrives. That revenue is guided, not booked. Cloud Infrastructure Services, the unit doing the building, brought in $109 million last quarter, against management guidance of $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion in 2027↗ ⁴. It is the second covenant raise in six months. May's third amendment↗ set the ceiling at 4.75 times ³. The convertible sale launched that month brought in $3.45 billion ⁴.

The spending has already outrun the revenue

Capital spending hit 41 percent of revenue in the third quarter ⁴; a year earlier it was 21 percent ⁴. Anthropic's initial commitment alone carries an estimated $5.5 billion of capex, and 2026 spending rose by about $1.7 billion to pre-buy memory and components ². The financing has kept pace: $6.4 billion of convertible notes already sat in long-term liabilities at September 30, before this sale ⁴.

Convertible buyers pay now, shareholders carry the rest

The new notes are earmarked to repay a portion of the $1.15 billion of converts due September 2027 and to fund the Cloud Infrastructure Services build ¹. The equity carries the risk. Beside the notes, Akamai buys note hedges, contracts that offset the dilution, and sells warrants, which dilute shareholders if the stock clears their strike while the build is unfinished ¹.

Anthropic holds a warrant of its own on up to 5 percent of Akamai's shares, most of it vesting only if the contract expands ². The lenders protected themselves separately, cutting the basket for secured subsidiary debt from 10 percent of assets to 3.5 through March 2028 ¹. The market's first read came Monday, with the stock down more than 7 percent in premarket trading↗ ⁵.

The financing covers the gap until Anthropic's revenue arrives

Akamai is building capacity now against revenue that arrives over years, and the spread between the two is what this financing covers. Convertible buyers put up the cash today; the covenant schedule sets the date by which contract revenue has to replace it. When the offering prices, the interest rate will be the first public measure of what carrying that gap costs. The step-down is what to watch: by March 2028 the banks expect 3.75 times, and only Anthropic's payments carry the balance sheet there.