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Google plans to invest up to $40B in Anthropic

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Re: Google plans to invest up to $40B in Anthropic

#51
post #28

I consider them competitors… This reminds me of Microsoft in 1997 investing $150 million in Apple, saving it from near bankruptcy

If I remember correctly, Microsoft allegedly did that for the very selfish reason of looking better in terms of being a monopoly.

Re: Google plans to invest up to $40B in Anthropic

#52
post #38
post #28

I consider them competitors… This reminds me of Microsoft in 1997 investing $150 million in Apple, saving it from near bankruptcy

Anthropics erratic behavior is going to get Google regulated. This is "don't rock the boat" money. Google existentially needs AI for advertising.

> Google existentially needs AI for advertising.

What's the explanation behind this? I am sure they use AI in their ad network (matching web sites with ad offerings, maybe generating ads automatically), but is there more to it?

Re: Google plans to invest up to $40B in Anthropic

#53
post #47

It’s pretty wild how badly Altman siding with Hegseth has backfired. (And how competently Dario has played his hand.) I don’t think that’s the ultimate cause of the turnaround in fortunes. But it strikes me, at least from the investor and potentially urban-consumer perspectives, as a pivotal moment in both companies’ fortunes.

Is the simpler explanation that Alpha was already an investor and Anthropic has been making strides in their business model?

> Is the simpler explanation that Alpha was already an investor

Individually, yes. Anthropic surging in private markets the weekend after the supply-chain risk designation, and raising from not only Google but also Amazon in such short clip (following credibly reports of it turning down $800+ billion valuation cheques from financial investors), all while OpenAI gets pilloried in the press and struggles to hold its $800bn valuation in private markets, collectively—to me—paints a bigger picture.

Re: Google plans to invest up to $40B in Anthropic

#54
Anthropic, meanwhile, is spending hundreds of millions buying customer commitments from PE firms to inflate that DAU number. They now have a larger war chest to spend on artificial user acquisition to further inflate that value for future funding rounds.

Re: Google plans to invest up to $40B in Anthropic

#55
I think the subtext of the last few weeks is the Anthropic was becoming severely capacity constrained (or approaching that). They seem to have had to sign two somewhat adverse contracts with Amazon and Google in short succession. suddenly model quality is back up again.

Re: Google plans to invest up to $40B in Anthropic

#56

If you added up all the major AI valuations, it's apparently worth more than products Americans constantly buy and rely on for their main life. So either AI is going to be involved in every Americans life to a large degree, and paying real money for, or these valuations are insanely wrong.

> it's apparently worth more than products Americans constantly buy and rely on for their main life

What are you counting in this category?

Re: Google plans to invest up to $40B in Anthropic

#57
post #28

I consider them competitors… This reminds me of Microsoft in 1997 investing $150 million in Apple, saving it from near bankruptcy

googles multiple businesses and gemini isn't the largest one. anthropic is the anchor external customer of tpu's and nvidia is worth more than all of google. If tpu's actually breakout as a viable alternative over the next few years for multiple clients the business could easily be worth as much as search, maybe more.

> If tpu's actually breakout as a viable alternative over the next few years

Why haven't they broken out yet, I wonder, if they're more efficient for inference and LLM costs are now weighted towards inference over training?

Re: Google plans to invest up to $40B in Anthropic

#58
post #33

"The Alphabet subsidiary is committing to invest $10 billion now, at a $350 billion valuation for Anthropic, with another $30 billion to follow if Anthropic hits certain performance targets, according to Anthropic." this is insane. on the secondary market the valuation is 2-3x that. what gives?

Top of the book? Nobody on the secondary market is investing $30bn

> Nobody on the secondary market is investing $30bn

Correct. But I think $5 to 10bn are sitting ready for $700 to 800, which strongly implies Google is getting a solid deal on this.

Re: Google plans to invest up to $40B in Anthropic

#59
It feels like the market is full Wiley Coyote on frontier model makers, and I like Anthropic's B2B business model.

But all progress points to a commodification of foundation models--Google first named it as "we have no moat, neither does anyone else." So there must be some secondary play driving this, right? Hardware sales? Hedging for search ad revenue?

Still feels mispriced. I think asset inflation leaves too much money desperate for the Next Big Thing.

Re: Google plans to invest up to $40B in Anthropic

#60
post #51
post #28

I consider them competitors… This reminds me of Microsoft in 1997 investing $150 million in Apple, saving it from near bankruptcy

If I remember correctly, Microsoft allegedly did that for the very selfish reason of looking better in terms of being a monopoly.

Rather than for the altruistic reason of saving a struggling fellow company?
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