New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin and Anthropic CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei speak on stage at the 2025 New York Times Dealbook Summit at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York on December 3, 2025.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
The Department of Defense has formally notified Anthropic executives that the company and its products have been designated as a supply chain risk, effective immediately, a senior department official said Thursday.
“From the beginning, the fundamental principle has been that the military can use technology for any lawful purpose,” the official told CNBC. “The military will not allow vendors to limit the lawful use of critical capabilities, interfere with the chain of command, and endanger our nation’s warfighters.”
Anthropic is the only U.S. company to be publicly designated as a supply chain risk, as supply chain risk designations have traditionally been used against foreign adversaries. The label would require defense vendors and contractors to certify that they do not use Anthropic models in their work with the Department of Defense.
The formal designation marks the latest development in the ongoing conflict between Anthropic and the Department of Defense, which has been at odds over how to use the startup’s artificial intelligence model known as Claude.
Anthropic wanted assurances that its technology would not be used for fully autonomous weapons or domestic mass surveillance, but the Department of Defense wanted Anthropic to grant it unfettered access to Claude for all lawful purposes.
As CNBC previously reported, the Pentagon is using Anthropic’s model to support U.S. military operations in the ongoing Iran conflict, despite talks between the two organizations breaking down.
Mr. Antropic had no comment. “We will challenge the supply chain risk designation in court,” the company said in a statement last week.
Bloomberg first reported the official designation.
The official notification comes six days after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth posted that he was directing the Pentagon to classify Anthropic as a “supply chain risk to national security.” A social media post alone was not sufficient for an official designation.
President Donald Trump also directed federal agencies on Friday to “immediately cease” all use of Anthropic’s technology. He said he had “fired” Anthropic in an interview with Politico on Thursday.
“Anthropic is in trouble because I fired (them) like dogs, and they shouldn’t have done that,” he told Politico.
Relations between Anthropic and the Trump administration have become increasingly strained in recent months.
Venture capitalist David Sachs, who serves as the White House’s AI and crypto czar, previously accused Anthropic of supporting “woke AI” and “pursuing a sophisticated regulatory acquisition strategy based on fear-mongering” for its stance on regulation, after a company executive wrote an essay titled “Technological Optimism and Appropriate Fear” in October.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has also largely avoided contact with Trump, in contrast to other industry executives such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Notably, Amodei did not attend President Trump’s inauguration last year.
In a memo to staff on Friday, Amodei reportedly said the administration doesn’t like Anthropic because it hasn’t donated or given “dictator-style praise to President Trump.”
Investors are closely watching Anthropic’s clash with the Department of Defense, as well as the stocks of the startup’s partners. Palantir It fell on Thursday’s news. The stock price closed almost flat.
The software and services provider relies on government contracts for about 60% of its U.S. revenue and is collaborating with Anthropic in coordination with military and defense agencies as part of an agreement signed in late 2024.
Analysts at Piper Sandler said in a note to clients on Tuesday that Anthropic is “heavily integrated into the military and intelligence communities” and that moving away from the company’s technology could be “short-term disruptive” to Palantir’s operations.
Anthropic won a $200 million contract with the Department of Defense in July, becoming the first AI lab to integrate its models into mission workflows on classified networks. However, as negotiations between the two organizations stalled, OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI also agreed to deploy the model on a confidential basis.
Altman announced OpenAI’s deal with the Department of Defense on Friday, hours after Anthropic was blacklisted. In a post on X, he said the agency has shown “a deep respect for safety and a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcomes.”
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