The United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has initiated an investigation into Amazon’s multi-billion-dollar investment in the U.S. artificial intelligence firm Anthropic. This follows the CMA’s recent similar probe into Alphabet’s collaboration with the same AI startup.
The CMA’s “Phase 1” investigation will determine if Amazon’s partnership with Anthropic constitutes a merger situation that could potentially harm competition within the UK. This initial phase allows the CMA until October 4 to decide whether to escalate the investigation into a more detailed “Phase 2” probe or to clear the collaboration of any competition concerns.
Amazon’s investment in Anthropic, completed in March, involved a $4 billion deal, which included an initial $1.25 billion equity stake followed by an additional $2.75 billion transaction. As part of the agreement, Anthropic’s advanced large language models will be available on Amazon’s Bedrock platform for developing generative AI applications. Additionally, these models will be trained and deployed using Amazon’s custom AI chips, developed by its Amazon Web Services division.
Despite Amazon and Anthropic asserting that their collaboration does not impede competition and maintains corporate governance independence, regulators remain vigilant. This scrutiny reflects a broader concern among antitrust authorities globally about the influence of large tech companies on smaller industry startups.
In recent months, regulatory bodies in the United States, European Union, and Britain have collectively emphasized their commitment to ensuring fair competition in the rapidly evolving AI sector. The CMA’s investigation into Amazon’s partnership with Anthropic underscores this ongoing effort to closely monitor significant deals within the industry to safeguard competitive market conditions.
