Akamai CEO and Co-founder speaks on competing with hyperscalers, the rise of distributed compute, AI inference at the edge and why India is not just critical to Akamai's roadmap but is leading its growth across Asia-Pacific and Japan region (APJ).
Nasdaq-listed Akamai Technologies closed 2024 with USD 3.99 billion in revenue, powered by double-digit growth in its cybersecurity and compute businesses as the company evolves beyond its CDN roots. In an era dominated by AI, CEO and co-founder Tom Leighton says the future will belong not to giant language models but to efficient, medium-sized AI models powered by smarter algorithms and deployed at the edge for real-world scale. In an exclusive interview with BW Businessworld during his India visit, Leighton spoke about competing with hyperscalers, the rise of distributed compute, AI inference at the edge and why India is not just critical to Akamai's roadmap but is leading its growth across Asia-Pacific and Japan region (APJ). Excerpts:
How has Akamai's India journey evolved since entry, and where does India fit in the company's roadmap today?
We have been in India for about 25 years, starting with the acquisition of a small company of just 40 people. Today, we're over 3,000. The growth here has been spectacular, mirroring India's broader evolution. This is Akamai's largest global presence, and every function we have worldwide from product innovation, development, deployment, operations, sales, and support. Everything exists here end-to-end.
India isn't just a talent hub for us; it's also a major market. In fact, our global innovation culture has deep roots here; our annual innovation contest, Wizards, began in Bengaluru in 2013. So, in many ways, India sits at the heart of Akamai's growth story and future roadmap, and our customer base continues to grow here rapidly.
Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ) is a big market for your growing compute business. Tell us how the India market stands out for you in the region.
APJ is a fast-growing, forward-looking region, and India is leading that momentum. The conversations we're having here with technology leaders are deeply focused on AI and cybersecurity.
"Indian enterprises are at the forefront of what we call the 'agentic web,' where interactions with apps, APIs and websites are powered by AI-driven agents."
Yes, large centralised models like ChatGPT have their place, but the real innovation is moving closer to the user. Companies here understand that the future lies in medium-sized models trained for specific tasks such as making a booking, purchasing something, and resolving a query -- delivered through a distributed inference infrastructure. Instead of relying on a few massive data centres, enterprises want AI co-pilots and chatbots running at the edge for speed, reliability, and a human-like experience. That's exactly what we enable. With 350 points of presence across 50 Indian cities, we provide the distributed infrastructure that makes AI fast and scalable in an economical way.
AI inference is emerging as a major business opportunity, but you're up against strong global competitors, including hyperscalers. How are you differentiating yourself in this space, and how does that strategy translate to a market like India, which is still catching up in most areas of AI?
Hyperscalers are massive companies, much larger than Akamai, but size doesn't automatically translate to performance. Where we differentiate is clear: we deliver the best performance, the strongest security, and now with compute, the most distributed infrastructure at a lower cost.
Because our compute is distributed, customers get faster application performance closer to users, without paying hyperscaler prices. That's why even the biggest hyperscalers are also Akamai customers; in fact, two of them are among our largest globally. We compete head-to-head with them in areas like e-commerce, gaming, and video delivery, and those customers continue to choose Akamai not because we're bigger, but because we're more distributed, more reliable and more secure.
From your discussions, how does the evolution of AI inference differ between the US and India?
I do not see a gap at all. Indian tech companies today are just as innovative and are adopting new technologies as fast as, if not faster than, counterparts in the US.
Where is Akamai seeing the greatest traction in India?
In India, our strongest sectors have traditionally been media, financial services, e-commerce, government, and high-tech. Most of the major players in these industries are Akamai customers. But as we expand in compute and enterprise security, we're also seeing strong momentum from manufacturing and large enterprises. These companies may not have heavy content delivery needs, but they require robust security and are increasingly adopting cloud computing, which makes them a growing focus segment for us.
Globally and in India, cybersecurity is our largest revenue driver, followed by a strong content delivery business where we are the market leader. Compute is our fastest-growing segment and scaling rapidly.
Content delivery now seems to be the smaller part of your business as Akamai pivots toward cybersecurity and, more recently, compute since 2022. Do you see these newer businesses offsetting the decline in CDN over time, or will delivery continue to be your core revenue driver?
CDN remains an important business for us. While it is not a major growth driver anymore due to market shakeout, it generates strong cash flow and is highly synergistic with our security and compute offerings. Many customers buy them together.
Looking ahead, security is our rapidly growing segment, and compute, though smaller today, is exploding. For example, our cloud infrastructure services are seeing ARR growth of over 40 per cent, which is very exciting.
On the global front, macroeconomic challenges and geopolitical tensions have intensified in recent years, with trade policy shifts, tariffs and tech transfer restrictions coming into play. How is Akamai positioning its infrastructure build-out to stay resilient? What strategies are you adopting to navigate this volatile time?
Geopolitical tensions and global turmoil are always concerning, but Akamai is well-positioned to navigate them. Our distributed infrastructure allows us to comply with local laws, data sovereignty, and privacy requirements, helping customers stay compliant and protected.
In fact, geopolitical uncertainty often drives more cyber threats, and our security solutions become even more critical. Similarly, our compute and delivery services offer high performance at competitive costs, which makes them increasingly attractive. Overall, while uncertainty exists, our business is resilient and continues to grow despite the global challenges.
Talent and immigration remain key concerns this year, especially with recent developments on H-1B visas. Given that India is one of the largest sources of applicants, how is this affecting Akamai's ability to hire and retain talent? How are you navigating the tightening immigration situation?
We are closely monitoring immigration regulations, as any responsible company would. At this point, we don't see a material impact on our business. India is extremely important for Akamai, nearly a third of our global workforce is here. The talent and people here are critical to our success. We carefully review new laws and regulations in any country, understand their implications and ensure compliance. For now, operations in India remain unaffected, but we are keeping a close eye on developments.
Technology has been central to policy shifts globally in the last few years, not just in the US. While the US is leading in AI and shaping policies around technologies, these moves ripple across the world. Where does India fit into this global technology and AI space, and what can the country do to compete?
The real breakthroughs in AI won't just come from hardware but from smarter algorithms. With better algorithms, the same hardware can deliver 10x the efficiency. Sometimes solving problems with just 1 per cent of the compute power. India has a huge advantage here because of its strength in mathematics and algorithmic research. People often focus on GPUs, but the real game-changer will be algorithmic innovation and India is exceptionally well-positioned to lead that.
India has traditionally been seen as an IT services hub rather than a centre of technological innovation, unlike the US or China. With AI driving efficiencies and new opportunities, what needs to change in India for it to become a leader in innovation, beyond a frugal, efficiency-driven approach?
I do not think anything fundamental needs to change. While the press and investors focus on gigantic models and hardware, the real action will be in medium-sized, efficient, distributed models that handle everyday tasks. These smaller models are nimble, less power-hungry, and far more cost-effective. In fact, we already have customers running advanced inference on CPUs -- solutions that the media often overlooks but will become the backbone of practical, day-to-day AI use.