The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has approved Alphabet’s $2 billion investment in Anthropic, a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence startup developing large language models (LLMs) and the chatbot Claude. The decision concludes an initial investigation and determines that the partnership doesn’t warrant further scrutiny under the country’s current merger rules.
The CMA launched a formal “stage 1” probe into Alphabet’s investment in October, part of a broader effort to examine Big Tech’s growing influence over smaller innovators through strategic investments. Alphabet’s partnership with Anthropic raised questions about potential material influence via financial ties and reliance on Google’s infrastructure, such as cloud computing. However, the regulator found no evidence suggesting Alphabet could exert such influence at the board level or through technical dependencies.
“The available evidence did not indicate that Google has the ability to exercise material influence over Anthropic through the partnership,” the CMA stated.
The deal also fell short of the U.K.’s turnover test, which requires at least £70 million ($88.5 million) in domestic revenue to qualify for a full merger investigation.
AI Investments Under Regulatory Spotlight
Anthropic, known for its Claude chatbot, competes with Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Alphabet’s involvement includes non-voting shares and consultation rights on significant business decisions, which Anthropic insists do not compromise its corporate independence.
The CMA’s decision mirrors its earlier stance on a $4 billion investment in Anthropic by Amazon, which also escaped a full probe due to the startup’s limited U.K. turnover and market share in AI technologies.
These decisions highlight how Big Tech firms, including Alphabet and Amazon, are navigating regulatory frameworks by making substantial financial commitments without triggering full merger investigations. In contrast, Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI remains under scrutiny, as the CMA continues to assess its broader implications in the fast-evolving AI industry.
Featured Image courtesy of GK Images/Alamy Stock Photo
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