Amazon Backs Anthropic AI Despite US Defense Ban

Amazon has reaffirmed its support for Anthropic’s artificial intelligence technology, confirming that its cloud customers can continue using the company’s AI models despite recent restrictions from the US government related to defense operations.

In a statement reported by a famous publication, Amazon clarified that Anthropic’s Claude models will remain available to most Amazon Web Services (AWS) users, except for workloads connected to the US Department of War. The clarification comes shortly after the federal agency labelled Anthropic a “supply chain risk,” a move that the AI company has said it intends to challenge legally.

“AWS customers and partners can continue to use Claude for all their workloads not associated with the Department of War,” an Amazon Web Services spokesperson said. “For all DoW workloads which use Anthropic technologies, we are supporting customers and partners as they transition to alternatives running on AWS.”

Amazon’s statement aligns closely with similar reassurances issued by Microsoft and Google. Both technology giants recently confirmed that Anthropic’s AI models will remain accessible to their cloud customers for non-defense related applications. The coordinated responses from the three major cloud providers highlight their ongoing support for Anthropic as regulatory and political scrutiny around AI intensifies.

The controversy stems from a directive issued last week by US President Donald Trump, instructing federal agencies to discontinue the use of Anthropic technologies. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth further stated that Anthropic would be gradually removed from Pentagon systems within six months.

The decision reportedly followed unsuccessful negotiations between Anthropic and the Department of War over concerns related to mass domestic surveillance and the potential use of autonomous weapons powered by AI.

Meanwhile, competition in the defense AI sector is heating up. Rival AI firm OpenAI has reportedly moved quickly to strengthen its own partnership with the Pentagon, positioning itself as an alternative provider for military-related artificial intelligence tools.

Despite the growing controversy, Amazon’s financial and technological ties with Anthropic remain significant. The e-commerce and cloud giant has invested approximately $8 billion in the AI startup since 2023, making it one of the company’s largest supporters.

Anthropic also relies heavily on AWS infrastructure for its training and cloud operations. As part of this collaboration, the company plans to use around 500,000 Trainium 2 chips through Project Rainier, an $11 billion AWS data center campus developed specifically to support Anthropic’s AI workloads.

Claude models are currently offered through AWS Bedrock, a platform that allows customers to access AI models from multiple providers through a single interface. AWS Bedrock is also available through the company’s GovCloud environment, which is designed to handle sensitive government workloads.

Amazon’s continued support is particularly notable given its deep involvement in government technology contracts. The company provides cloud and AI services to more than 11,000 US government agencies and has secured billions of dollars in federal contracts.

Anthropic itself has also been expanding into defense-related AI work. The company previously partnered with Palantir and AWS to provide artificial intelligence capabilities to intelligence agencies. In 2025, Anthropic secured a $200 million contract with the US Department of Defense, becoming the first AI research lab to integrate its models into classified mission workflows.

The evolving situation reflects the growing intersection of artificial intelligence development, national security concerns, and global technology competition.