How much does AI cost? That question can be answered by AWS, which has billed Anthropic a whopping $2.66 billion so far this year. The problem is twofold, because in that same period it is estimated that Anthropic has earned 2.55 billion dollars, so with that alone it has spent more than it earns. But Anthropic has many more expenses and the accounts, once again, do not work out in the AI segment.
Why is it important. The data revealed by Ed Zitron confirms the problem they face all AI startups: They spend (much) more than they earn, and that trend does not seem to be reversing. In fact, although these companies are growing in revenue, they are also growing proportionally in expenses. And the question, of course, is whether this pace is sustainable.
The Anthropic case. According to Zitron data, in 2024 Anthropic earned between $400 and $600 million, but spent $1.35 billion on AWS, that is, 226% of its income. The trend appears to continue in 2025, because the share of spending on AWS is 104% of its revenue. It seems that things have improved, but that expense does not include what it costs Anthropic use Google Cloud infrastructureanother of its partners in all its operations. The expenditure on it is also likely to be enormous, which complicates the situation.
The mystery of unexplained costs. The unaccounted cost gap is also enormous. In 2024 Anthropic’s total spending was estimated at 6.2 billion dollars. If we know that he spent $1.35 billion on AWS, there is $4.85 billion left that is not explained. That suggests that spending on Google Cloud and other operational costs is absolutely astronomical. In fact, computing costs may be much higher than we thought.
Another startup desperate for investment. Meanwhile, Anthropic continues to raise capital. Zitron analysis reveals that between 2023 and 2025 achievement raise investment rounds for a total of 37.5 billion dollars (20,000 of them in 2025 alone). A good part of that money came precisely from the companies that provide infrastructure: Amazon and Google. Despite that funding, Anthropic appears as desperate as OpenAI to raise new rounds of investment. The company run by Dario Amodei recently resorted to money from Middle Eastern countries, for example.
Spending continues to skyrocket. The study figures further reveal that Anthropic spends more the more time passes. In January 2024, it spent $52.9 million on AWS, but in December 2024 that amount rose to $176.1 million. In September 2025, it is estimated that spending on AWS was no less than $518.9 million: the escalation in costs is very notable.
And he tightens the screws on Cursor. One of Anthropic’s most important clients is the startup vibe coding Cursor. This company has clearly been affected by that situation, and Cursor’s costs on AWS doubled from $6.19 million in May 2025 to $12.67 million in June. Just in those Anthropic months implement the so-called “Service Levels” with which it forced business customers to spend a minimum amount and pay higher rates for prompt caching, a special component designed for startups that use generative AI models for programming. What did Cursor do? Increase prices (and apologize for it) of your customer subscriptions.
This can’t go on like this forever. For Zitron, always very critical of this reality of AI companies, the conclusion is clear: Anthropic’s costs are out of control. In fact, he argues that they increase practically linearly with respect to revenue, which makes their business model unsustainable. The only solution is to increase prices drastically (possibly 100%) to become profitable. The problem is that the market accepts paying twice as much at once for AI as it currently pays for.
Image | Anthropic | Taylor Vick
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