Akamai Forecasts 2027 Growth Acceleration After CIS Commitments

The Tip Desk · November 5, 2026 · 3 min read

Cloud Infrastructure Services revenue was $109 million in the third quarter, and the company now projects 2027 total revenue growth of 17% to 22% when adjusted for foreign exchange.

Akamai Technologies (AKAM), the cloud company that powers and protects an AI-driven world, reported third-quarter revenue of $1.122 billion, up 6% from a year earlier and 7% when adjusted for foreign exchange, a step-up from 5% growth in the second quarter.

Chief Executive Officer Dr. Tom Leighton said the company now expects overall revenue growth to accelerate to 17% to 22% year-over-year when adjusted for foreign exchange in 2027, citing Cloud Infrastructure Services momentum, a track record of execution and a continued strong pipeline. He said 2028 total revenue is projected to exceed $7.0 billion.

Cloud Infrastructure Services revenue was $109 million, up 34% year-over-year and 35% when adjusted for foreign exchange. That growth rate slowed from 39% in the second quarter and 40% in the first quarter.

Leighton said more than $14 billion of multi-year CIS commitments had been signed so far in 2026, versus year-to-date multi-year CIS contracts collectively worth over $2.8 billion as of the second-quarter release. The company also launched Akamai Inference and Akamai Agent Sandbox, services for enterprises to build and tune open-weight models on proprietary data and run agents on Akamai’s AI-optimized cloud platform.

Security revenue was $622 million, up 9% year-over-year and 10% when adjusted for foreign exchange, after 10% growth in the second quarter and 11% in the first. Delivery and other cloud applications revenue was $391 million, down 3% year-over-year, after a 6% decline in the second quarter and 7% in the first.

U.S. revenue was $559 million, up 5% year-over-year. International revenue was $563 million, up 7% year-over-year and 9% when adjusted for foreign exchange.

GAAP income from operations was $109 million, a 35% decrease from the third quarter of 2025, with GAAP operating margin of 10%, down 6 percentage points year-over-year. Non-GAAP income from operations was $286 million, an 11% decrease, with non-GAAP operating margin of 25%, also down 6 percentage points.

GAAP net income per diluted share was $0.77, down 21% year-over-year and 15% when adjusted for foreign exchange. Non-GAAP net income per diluted share was $1.77, down 5% year-over-year and 2% when adjusted for foreign exchange. Adjusted EBITDA was $435 million, a 5% decrease, with a 39% margin.

Cash from operations was $433 million, or 39% of revenue, versus $326 million, or 30% of revenue, in the second quarter. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities was $4.239 billion as of September 30, 2026.

Total capital expenditures were $464 million, or 41% of revenue, versus $347 million, or 32% of revenue, in the second quarter.

The company did not repurchase shares in the third quarter. It spent $616 million in the nine months ended September 30, 2026 to buy 5 million shares at a weighted average $123.19 a share. Shares outstanding were 144 million as of September 30, 2026.

For the three months ending December 31, 2026, Akamai guided revenue to $1.145 billion to $1.170 billion, with non-GAAP operating margin of 24% and non-GAAP net income per diluted share of $1.50 to $1.70. Full-year 2026 revenue is guided to $4.440 billion to $4.465 billion, with non-GAAP operating margin of 25% and non-GAAP net income per diluted share of $6.47 to $6.68.

For 2027, Cloud Infrastructure Services revenue is projected at $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion.