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F. Leighton

Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, President & Director, Akamai

Search every verified F. Leighton interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In September 2026, Akamai co-founder and CEO Tom Leighton discussed the company’s seven-year, $12 billion AI computing supply agreement with Anthropic, describing Anthropic as "a great company" and "an ideal partner for Akamai." He noted that many AI uses benefit from proximity to users and data, which Akamai’s edge network provides. Addressing concerns about concentration risk from the Anthropic partnership, Leighton said Anthropic would become a large customer but cited other deals signed this year, collectively representing $14.4 billion in long-term commitments, which he said would generate $2.2 billion in annual revenue once fully ramped. He also highlighted Akamai’s advantage of having 4,000 points of presence in 700 cities with smaller data centers, which he said helps avoid community pushback faced by larger facilities. On the company’s Q2 2026 earnings call in August, Leighton discussed a recent customer win with CrowdStrike, calling it "a real validation point for our security solutions" and noting that CrowdStrike was attracted to Akamai’s reliability and security capabilities. He also addressed AI security, stating that industry-wide coordination on protecting AI agents is difficult to achieve and that defenses must be in place on the other side, as critical infrastructure needs protection. Leighton said government can be helpful in advocating for standards and minimum levels of cybersecurity protection.

Recent appearances

Notable quotes

“They will become a large customer. I can't think of really a better company to be a large customer. But, really, you know, we've signed many deals so far this year with other leading enterprises, and collectively now 14,400,000,000 in long term commits we signed already this year. And when you look at the run rate when it's fully on board and ramped up, that'll be $2,200,000,000 a year of revenue, and very profitable”

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