The Information Technology Industry Council, whose members include Amazon and Nvidia, expressed concern about reports that the department might label a company a “supply-chain risk.”
The letter did not name Anthropic.
Dario Amodei, Anthropic CEO, discussed the matter with major investors and partners, including Andy Jassy, Amazon CEO.
Venture firms Lightspeed and Iconiq coordinated with others on possible solutions.
The Defense Department urged AI firms to accept an all-lawful-use clause. Anthropic said it would not allow its Claude model for autonomous weapons or mass US surveillance.
It said it would challenge any designation in court.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said a designation would require all government contractors to stop using Anthropic’s technology.
Several US agencies, including the State Department, started switching to rivals like OpenAI after President Trump ordered agencies to drop Anthropic within six months.
Originally written by: Tech in Asia
Source: Tech in Asia
Published on: 5 March 2026
Link to original article: Big Tech group backs Anthropic in Pentagon AI dispute
