The U.K.’s antitrust regulator has officially confirmed a formal antitrust investigation into Amazon’s relationship with Anthropic, following Amazon’s recent $4 billion investment into the AI startup.
This announcement comes shortly after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) revealed it was initiating an inquiry into Google’s ties with Anthropic, as Google had previously invested a reported $300 million followed by an additional $2 billion.
Anthropic, founded in 2021 and based in San Francisco, operates as a public benefit corporation (PBC) focusing on large language models (LLMs) and its chatbot Claude, similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Bard. The company has successfully raised $10 billion in just three years.
The rush for AI technology has driven Big Tech companies to adopt various strategies like strategic investments or talent acquisitions to avoid full-fledged acquisitions and regulatory scrutiny. This approach, known as ‘quasi-merger,’ ensures they remain competitive in the rapidly evolving market.
Looking ahead, the CMA is expected to launch a thorough investigation into Microsoft’s close collaboration with OpenAI, following significant investments in the development of ChatGPT.
In addition, the CMA recently conducted preliminary inquiries into several similar deals involving Big Tech. While some did not meet the criteria for a full investigation, the CMA is extending its probe into Microsoft’s acqui-hire of the core team from Inflection AI, a rival of OpenAI that Microsoft had previously invested in.
The third area of early-stage inquiries involved Amazon and Anthropic, with the CMA deciding to proceed with an official phase 1 investigation into their relationship.
