Tech industry rallies behind Anthropic in Pentagon fight

Tech industry groups representing hundreds of companies are urging a court to pause the Pentagon's blacklisting of Anthropic. Why it matters: The Pentagon didn't just stop doing business with Anthropic — it labeled the company a supply chain risk, a move industry says could chill innovation and reshape how the government treats AI vendors.

Driving the news: Major tech industry groups representing companies with Pentagon contracts filed an amicus brief calling for a pause on the designation.

"The government has ample, well-established tools to resolve procurement disputes and to contract with providers on whatever terms it prefers," the March 13 court filing states. What they can't do, the filing says, is "misuse extraordinary national security authorities designed for foreign adversary sabotage" because of a disagreement with a contractor — or ignore congressional protections and "upend the legal framework on which the entire technology contracting community depends."

The filing was signed by the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), and TechNet.

Google, OpenAI, Meta, Cloudflare, Adobe, Accenture, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Deloitte are among the many companies represented by the groups. The industry groups say the move bypassed the typical procurement and supply-chain security processes that Congress created to deal with situations like the Pentagon-Anthropic dispute.

Catch up quick: Anthropic is suing the Pentagon and other federal agencies, alleging the designation violates the company's First Amendment rights and exceeds congressional authority.

President Trump has told the federal government to stop using Anthropic's Claude.

Between the lines: This fight is a major test of how aggressively the government can regulate AI companies through procurement decisions. The other side: The Pentagon labeled Anthropic a supply chain risk after officials said the company was trying to impose "woke" usage policies on sensitive military operations.

The Pentagon is offering a deadline extension to off-board Anthropic, which undersecretary Emil Michael says could be needed for ongoing sensitive operations but, ultimately, the department is looking to rip and replace the company.

The bottom line: Industry isn't buying it.

If the government can blacklist a company and claim it's a security risk, the entire procurement system "becomes contingent on political favor rather than the rule of law," the groups wrote in the brief.

What's next: A hearing on whether to grant Anthropic temporary relief is set for March 24.