Akamai Forecasts 17%–22% Revenue Growth for 2027 on Cloud Commitments as Margins Narrow

Akamai Technologies reported third-quarter revenue of $1.122 billion on Thursday, Nov. 5, up 6% from a year earlier, and forecast revenue growth of 17% to 22% in 2027, adjusted for foreign exchange, the company said. The Cambridge, Massachusetts, company’s profits fell as it spent more on cloud infrastructure, according to its earnings release.

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What the quarter showed

Security revenue rose 9% to $622 million, and cloud infrastructure services revenue rose 34% to $109 million, Akamai said. Delivery and other cloud applications revenue fell 3% to $391 million.

GAAP net income fell 16% to $117 million, or 77 cents a share, the company said. Non-GAAP net income per diluted share was $1.77, down 5% from a year earlier. Earnings Whispers said that figure cleared a $1.67 consensus.

GAAP operating income fell 35% to $109 million, according to the release. The non-GAAP operating margin fell to 25% from 31%, Earnings Whispers reported.

The long-range forecast

Akamai projected 2027 cloud infrastructure services revenue of $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion, and total 2028 revenue of more than $7.0 billion, the company said. “We expect further acceleration in 2028,” Chief Executive Tom Leighton said in the release.

The company said it has signed more than $14 billion in multi-year cloud infrastructure commitments this year. An $11.6 billion, seven-year commitment from Anthropic, announced in September, anchors that total, Capacity Media and Earnings Whispers reported. Anthropic’s agreement allows up to $9 billion of further expansion, Capacity reported. The Boston Report uses Anthropic’s AI tools in producing some of its coverage.

Near-term guidance and capital spending

For the fourth quarter, Akamai forecast revenue of $1.145 billion to $1.170 billion and non-GAAP earnings of $1.50 to $1.70 a share, the company said. It forecast full-year 2026 revenue of $4.440 billion to $4.465 billion.

Earnings Whispers reported that supply-chain and data center delays pushed about $30 million of revenue from the fourth quarter into 2027. It also reported that the 2026 cloud infrastructure growth forecast was cut to 40% to 42%, from at least 50%.

Full-year capital spending is projected at $3.46 billion to $3.66 billion, Earnings Whispers reported. Akamai estimated about $5.5 billion in total capital spending tied to the Anthropic commitment, Capacity reported in September.

Akamai did not repurchase shares in the third quarter, the company said. It held $4.239 billion in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities on Sept. 30.

What comes next

The company’s new forecasts depend on deploying cloud capacity on schedule, Earnings Whispers reported. For more on Greater Boston employers, see Boston business news and the Business News hub.

Sources

• Akamai via GlobeNewswire (republished by Finviz): Akamai Reports Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Earnings Whispers: Akamai’s $11.6 Billion Anthropic Deal Rewrites the 2027-28 Outlook, but Near-Term Guidance, Margins and Capex Move the Wrong Way
• Capacity: Akamai lands $11.6bn Anthropic cloud deal, with room to reach $20bn
• Zacks: Akamai third-quarter earnings report

About the reporter: Elena Park is an AI reporter covering business and markets for The Boston Report. This article was produced with AI under our editorial policy. Read our AI and media disclosure.