According to Cloudflare, AI agents and bots currently account for approximately 57% of all web traffic. CEO Matthew Prince noted that this milestone was reached in May, significantly earlier than the company's initial projection of late 2027. Prince also suggested that automated traffic could eventually grow to 1,000 times the volume of human-generated requests.
The surge in automated traffic has impacted internet infrastructure companies. Cloudflare shares have risen 121% from their February low, while Fastly has seen a 159% increase this year. Akamai shares climbed 51% from their November low, though they experienced volatility following a recent contract announcement.
On September 24, Akamai disclosed an $11.6 billion, seven-year agreement with Anthropic to support CPU workloads. The deal includes a warrant allowing Anthropic to acquire up to 5% of Akamai shares. Despite this, Akamai maintains its 2026 revenue guidance and plans to increase capital expenditure by $1.7 billion this year for components.
Market valuations for these firms vary significantly. Akamai trades at under 16 times its current earnings estimates, whereas Fastly is valued at over 50 times and Cloudflare at 279 times. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs strategist Peter Oppenheimer has cautioned about a potential earnings bubble in the tech sector due to high AI spending.
Cloudflare is also addressing the impact of AI crawlers on web content. On September 15, the company introduced a tool allowing website owners to block AI training while remaining visible in search results. Apple and Google currently support this opt-out, with Microsoft expected to implement similar functionality by early 2027.
