The UK‘s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has given the green light to Amazon‘s $4 billion partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic. The decision, announced on Friday, comes after the watchdog determined that the deal did not qualify for further scrutiny under Britain’s merger regulations.
The CMA found that Anthropic’s revenue and its combined market share with Amazon in Britain were not substantial enough to warrant an in-depth investigation.This clearance removes a potential hurdle for Amazon’s significant investment in the AI sector.
Under the partnership, Anthropic will use Amazon Web Services as its primary cloud provider and leverage Amazon’s custom chips to build, train, and deploy its AI models. The deal is part of a broader trend of major tech companies investing in AI startups, which has attracted global regulatory attention.
An Amazon spokesperson welcomed the CMA’s decision, stating that the investment in Anthropic aims to “spur entry and competition in generative AI.” Anthropic, founded in 2021 by former OpenAI executives Dario and Daniela Amodei, has focused on developing safe and reliable AI models.
While the UK regulator has cleared this deal and similar partnerships like Microsoft’s collaboration with Mistral AI, it continues to scrutinise Alphabet’s partnership with Anthropic. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission is examining whether such deals give tech giants an unfair advantage in the rapidly growing AI market.
UK competition regulator clears Amazon’s $4 billion AI partnership with Anthropic – Times of India
