Evening digest: Anthropic signs $10B deal, Apple escalates OpenAI legal fight

A busy day across technology, commodities and global markets saw Anthropic deepen its investment in AI infrastructure with a multibillion-dollar computing agreement, while Apple escalated its legal battle against OpenAI over alleged trade secret theft.

Elsewhere, gold prices advanced as falling oil eased inflation concerns, and crude prices slid on renewed hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough between the United States and Iran.

Anthropic's $10 billion computing deal

Anthropic has signed a $10 billion agreement for computing capacity from Nvidia-backed cloud infrastructure startup Volta Infra Holdings, said a Bloomberg report.

The six-year contract will use a data center in Norway operated in partnership with Bitcoin miner Bitdeer Technologies.

Earlier on Tuesday, Volta announced that it had secured a $10 billion agreement with an unnamed AI laboratory to be delivered through Bitdeer, although it did not identify the customer.

The Norway facility will provide 133 megawatts of computing capacity and will be equipped with Nvidia's latest Vera Rubin chips.

The agreement marks the latest step in Anthropic's rapid expansion of AI computing resources as demand for its Claude models continues to grow among businesses and consumers.

The company has recently entered computing partnerships with SpaceX, Advanced Micro Devices and Akamai Technologies, while Bloomberg previously reported that Anthropic has also discussed leasing computing capacity from Meta Platforms.

Gold prices rise as oil retreats

Gold prices climbed on Tuesday as declining crude oil prices eased inflation concerns and reduced expectations of aggressive US interest-rate increases.

Spot gold rose 0.7% to $4,080.97 per ounce, while US gold futures settled 1.14% higher at $4,080.97 per ounce.

Oil prices dropped after comments from US and Qatari officials increased hopes for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict involving Iran, potentially improving oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

Lower energy prices supported expectations that inflationary pressures could moderate, providing support for bullion.

Market participants also continued monitoring Federal Reserve policy after New York Fed President John Williams reiterated that policymakers remain prepared to raise rates if inflation does not continue easing.

Among other precious metals, silver, platinum and palladium all posted strong gains during Tuesday's session.

Oil prices tumble on Iran diplomacy hopes

Crude oil prices fell more than 5% to their lowest levels in three weeks as optimism grew over negotiations that could reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Brent crude dropped to around $79.34 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude fell to roughly $75.73 per barrel.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier that an agreement with Iran to reopen the strategic waterway could come as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said discussions involving Iran and Oman were making progress, although a final agreement had not yet been reached.

Despite Tuesday's decline, analysts noted that the market remains highly sensitive to geopolitical developments.

Goldman Sachs continues to expect Brent crude to trade in an $80 to $90 per barrel range until there is greater clarity on negotiations or further military escalation.

Apple escalates OpenAI lawsuit

Apple has intensified its legal dispute with OpenAI by asking a US court for a preliminary injunction that would prevent the artificial intelligence company and two former Apple employees from accessing or using what Apple alleges are its confidential trade secrets.

The request follows Apple's lawsuit accusing OpenAI of attempting to obtain confidential information related to unreleased technologies, internal processes and future hardware products.

Central to the case are allegations involving former Apple executive Tang Tan, now OpenAI's chief hardware officer, and former Apple engineer Chang Liu.

Apple alleges Tan encouraged prospective OpenAI employees to disclose confidential information during interviews and that Liu improperly retained access to Apple's internal systems after leaving the company.

Apple has also requested expedited discovery, seeking documents and depositions from OpenAI, Tang Tan, Chang Liu and other individuals connected to the case.

OpenAI has publicly rejected Apple's allegations.

In a detailed blog post, the company disputed Apple's claims that it ignored earlier concerns and argued that Apple mistakenly contacted the wrong individual before filing suit.

OpenAI also denied seeking or possessing Apple's trade secrets, stating that it remains focused on developing new AI technologies rather than using confidential information from competitors.