Infosys joins forces with the AI company that triggered a sharp selloff in its stock

By Tomi Kilgore

India-based IT consultant teams with Anthropic to help deploy AI agents to customers

Infosys shares looked set to rally after collaboration with Anthropic, just after the AI company had helped trigger a sharp selloff in the IT-consultant sector.

In what seems like a strategy of "if you can't beat them, join them," Infosys announced a collaboration with artificial-intelligence researcher Anthropic to help deploy AI agents to clients.

The announcement comes after shares of India-based Infosys (INFY), along with other information-technology consultants, have suffered sharp share losses in February amid fears of competition from AI, highlighted by Anthropic's unveiling of a new automation tool for its Claude AI agent that allows companies to automate legal work.

Infosys shares tumbled 12.6% last week, their worst weekly performance in four years, and have shed 16.3% so far this month. The stock closed last Thursday at its lowest price since Oct. 6, 2020.

The stock rose 0.2% on Tuesday.

Among Infosys's rivals, shares of Wipro (WIT) lost 2.1% on Tuesday, Accenture's stock (ACN) fell 1.9% and Cognizant shares (CTSH) slipped 2%.

Overnight Monday, Infosys said it was collaborating with Anthropic to provide the use of AI agents, first tailored to specific operations of clients in the telecommunications industry. The companies will then expand across industries such as financial services, manufacturing and software development.

"A core focus will be agentic AI-systems that go beyond answering questions to independently handling multi-step tasks like processing claims, generating and testing code, or managing compliance reviews," the companies said in a statement.

There has been a fear among IT investors that helping clients implement AI agents to perform business functions is like providing them with tools so that they wouldn't need IT consultants.

So far, Infosys has seen business pick up as many companies need help developing and implementing AI agents into their businesses. In Infosys's fiscal third quarter, which ended in December, the company said it was working on 4,600 AI projects and had built over 500 AI agents.

"AI is not just transforming business - it is redefining the way industries operate and innovate," said Infosys CEO Salil Parekh. "Our collaboration with Anthropic marks a strategic leap toward advancing enterprise AI, enabling organizations to unlock value and become more intelligent, resilient and responsible."

Infosys shares have dropped 31.8% over the past 12 months, while the iShares MSCI India ETF INDA has gained 6.7% and the S&P 500 index SPX has advanced 11.8%.

-Tomi Kilgore

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02-17-26 1642ET