Anthropic is once again deeply integrated with Google. According to the latest news, this AI startup giant has pledged to pay a total of 200 billion dollars over the next five years to Google for cloud services and self-developed chip computing power.

This figure is not only astonishing but also reveals the extremely high computing power barriers in the current AI industry. Industry estimates show that this deal accounts for more than 40% of Google's recently disclosed total revenue commitments. Looking across the entire industry, the orders from Anthropic and OpenAI, two major players, have already taken up more than half of the pending orders from major US cloud service providers, reaching nearly 1 trillion dollars.

However, the complex financial structure behind this "once-in-a-century deal" has sparked widespread doubts in the market. Google and Amazon are not only service providers for Anthropic but also its core investors. Financial reports show that Alphabet (Google's parent company) saw a huge profit increase in the first quarter, partly due to the revaluation of its equity in Anthropic. This relationship, where they are both landlords and shareholders, has been humorously referred to by some industry insiders as a "magic trick" in the capital market, suggesting potential circular transactions that could lead to a disconnect between company valuations and actual returns.

Current cost projections also confirm the harsh reality of the AI arms race. By 2026, OpenAI's server spending may reach 45 billion dollars, while Anthropic is expected to spend around 20 billion dollars. Although major tech giants' capital expenditures in the AI field have reached government-level levels, whether this heavy-asset, high-investment business model can generate sustainable profits in the future remains an unresolved question for investors.

As Anthropic's valuation in the semi-primary market surpasses the one-trillion-dollar mark, the speculative game in the AI industry has entered a boiling point. This competition, built on top-tier computing power and massive capital, is either a necessary path toward general artificial intelligence or yet another illusion of valuation speculation—only time will tell.