Anthropic Just Raised $12B - Mostly in IOUs SAN FRANCISCO - Anthropic closed a $12 billion round at a $95 billion valuation. But here's what most coverage misses: the majority of that $12 billion wasn't cash. It was compute credits. Cloud providers - AWS, GCP, and Azure - traded GPU access for equity. Anthropic gets the compute for its next-generation models (reportedly Claude 5). The cloud providers get strategic stakes in what they hope will be the defining AI company of the decade. Why it matters: This deal redefines how AI companies raise capital. The compute-credit model is spreading fast, and it changes the incentive structure for everyone involved. ==takeaways $12B at $95B valuation - one of the largest private rounds in history Majority in compute credits, not cash - ~$8-9B estimated in GPU access Cloud providers gain strategic leverage, alignment, and long-term lock-in Compute-backed rounds become the new