Shares of cloud computing giant Akamai Technologies (AKAM) skyrocketed over 7% on Wednesday after Bank of America issued a major upgrade, calling the company a credible AI infrastructure play. The stock hit $161.14, its highest close in over 26 years, fueled by last week’s revelation of a massive $1.8 billion, seven-year infrastructure deal with a “leading frontier model provider” — widely reported to be AI startup Anthropic.
Bank of America analyst Tal Liani upgraded Akamai from Neutral to Buy and hiked his price target from $130 to $175, stating that the narrative has shifted from a legacy content delivery network to an AI infrastructure platform. The deal is expected to add $20–25 million in quarterly revenue starting in Q4, and analysts pointed to Akamai’s Cloud Infrastructure Services segment growing 40% year‑over‑year as evidence of real demand for distributed AI and edge inference workloads.
While Akamai’s traditional delivery business declined 7%, investors are betting that accelerating AI demand will more than offset those legacy headwinds. Morgan Stanley also reiterated its Overweight rating, noting the deal firmly entangles Akamai in the AI growth story.
The announcement has sent ripples through the crypto market, particularly among AI‑themed tokens. Decentralized AI projects are seen as direct beneficiaries of the expanding AI infrastructure landscape, as increased investment in centralized cloud and edge computing often spills over into demand for distributed, blockchain‑based AI solutions. Tokens such as Fetch.ai (FET), SingularityNET (AGIX), and Ocean Protocol (OCEAN) rallied in the wake of the news, with traders interpreting the Akamai deal as a signal of long‑term sector growth. The robust $1.8 billion commitment validates the commercial appetite for AI computing power, a trend that could accelerate development and adoption of decentralized AI networks.
