Meta and Microsoft are sharply cutting their internal use of Anthropic Claude. The two major tech companies previously stood among Anthropic's largest enterprise customers. That relationship is shifting as Anthropic changes from a partner into a rival.
Microsoft cuts Claude spending sharply
Microsoft projected Claude spending would exceed $1 billion annually. Executives Scott Guthrie and Jay Parikh recently told employees to use in-house tools like GitHub Copilot and OpenAI models instead. Spending dropped by more than a third. The monthly per-employee budget in the cloud division fell from $100,000 to approximately $10,000.
Cost savings drive some of these decisions. Yet financial metrics do not tell the whole story. Anthropic is growing extremely fast and creating headaches for industry incumbents. Tools like Claude Cowork and ChatGPT Work are increasingly turning into Office alternatives. Microsoft now has clear reasons to worry about this competition.
Meta reduces Claude Code users
Meta saw Claude Code users drop from roughly 60,000 down to 30,000. This decline happened partly due to layoffs. It also happened because Meta pushes its own internal tools like Muse Code and MetaCode. Meta spent over $105 million on Claude Code alone during a single 28-day stretch. Meta had already introduced AI cost-cutting measures in June.
Meta has little reason to keep feeding Anthropic when it wants to sell competing products. Reports indicate Meta also wanted to restrict Anthropic's access to its training data. The irony of Meta worrying about someone else using its data is notable.
Anthropic continues to evolve its product offerings for enterprise users. The company is securing its position in the competitive artificial intelligence market. Incumbent tech giants are responding by tightening budgets and prioritizing proprietary tools.
Both companies will continue developing their internal artificial intelligence platforms. Market watchers will track how these enterprise spending shifts impact the broader artificial intelligence sector.
