# Microsoft on track to pay Anthropic $2B a year for Copilot | QANATONE > The Information reports Microsoft is on track to pay Anthropic more than $2 billion a year to power Copilot in Office, up from about $500… Kaynak: https://www.qanatone.com/en/haber/microsoft-anthropic-copilot-odemesi/ --- [News](https://www.qanatone.com/en/haber/) # Microsoft on track to pay Anthropic $2B a year for Copilot 12 Oct 2026 3 min read News · Models The Information reports Microsoft is on track to pay Anthropic more than $2 billion a year to power Copilot in Office, up from about $500 million earlier this year. ## What happened The Information reported on October 12, citing one source, that Microsoft is on track to pay Anthropic more than $2 billion a year for models used in Copilot. Office chief Charles Lamanna reportedly persuaded Satya Nadella despite internal cost concerns. Neither company confirmed the figure. ## Why Anthropic Anthropic's newer models reportedly performed better on advanced Excel and PowerPoint tasks. Microsoft now blends Claude with OpenAI models across Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint, a major shift from a Copilot strategy built almost entirely on OpenAI. ## Conflicting signals In January, Microsoft's Anthropic spending was put at about $500 million a year. A separate October 6 report said Microsoft cut projected internal Claude spending by more than a third, though customer-facing Copilot use reportedly offset much of that. The report does not say whether Microsoft buys API usage or dedicated capacity. ## Key terms Model routing sends each task to the model that does it best. An API is the connection software uses to call another company's service, usually billed by usage. ## Why it matters Copilot sits inside the world's most widely used office software, so Microsoft's model choice shapes what millions of workers use daily. Even with its OpenAI stake, Microsoft is paying a rival lab billions, a sign that single-vendor AI strategies are fading. ## Microsoft and OpenAI Microsoft has invested tens of billions of dollars in OpenAI since 2019 and long built all of Copilot on its models. The relationship has grown more distant: OpenAI signed deals with other clouds, while Microsoft built its own models and began working with other labs. The size of the Anthropic payments shows that diversification has moved from experiments into the core product. ## What it means for your business Do not lock into one AI tool; keep data and workflows portable. Pick models by task and run small comparisons, try AI on spreadsheet and presentation work where models have clearly improved, and track cost by usage rather than seat count. ## More articles [News · Infrastructure ### Microsoft's Maia 300 chip will run its AI services from 2027 12 Oct 2026 · 3 min](https://www.qanatone.com/en/haber/microsoft-maia-300-cikarim-cipi/)[News · Funding ### Amazon in talks to buy AI startup Decart for about $7 billion 11 Oct 2026 · 3 min](https://www.qanatone.com/en/haber/amazon-decart-7-milyar-dolar-gorusme/)[News · Funding ### Spend management startup Ramp valued at $60 billion 9 Oct 2026 · 3 min](https://www.qanatone.com/en/haber/ramp-60-milyar-dolar-degerleme/)[News · Policy ### White House unveils $6 billion science and AI package 8 Oct 2026 · 3 min](https://www.qanatone.com/en/haber/beyaz-saray-6-milyar-dolar-bilim-genesis/)[News · Search ### Google's September 2026 spam update has finished rolling out 8 Oct 2026 · 3 min](https://www.qanatone.com/en/haber/google-eylul-2026-spam-guncellemesi-tamamlandi/)[News · Infrastructure ### AMD lifts its Taiwan supply-chain investment 6 Oct 2026 · 3 min](https://www.qanatone.com/en/haber/amd-tayvan-kapasite-yatirimi/)[News · Infrastructure ### DayOne files for a Nasdaq IPO at a $20 billion target 6 Oct 2026 · 3 min](https://www.qanatone.com/en/haber/dayone-veri-merkezi-halka-arz/)[News · Funding ### DeepSeek nears at least $12 billion before its IPO 6 Oct 2026 · 3 min](https://www.qanatone.com/en/haber/deepseek-12-milyar-dolar-yatirim/)