Cloudflare forecasts annual sales above estimates as AI drives cloud demand

(Reuters) – Cloudflare forecast annual and first-quarter sales above Wall Street estimates on Tuesday, betting on the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology to drive demand for its cloud services.

Shares of the firm jumped nearly 12% in extended trading.

The race to integrate AI across industries has resulted in an uptick in cloud demand, as businesses prioritize spending on the digital infrastructure necessary for developing the booming tech.

Cloudflare is also expected to benefit from an increase in AI agents, such as “Clawdbot,” recently renamed to “OpenClaw,” whose users can utilize the cloud firm’s technology to safely route traffic to their private computers, allowing remote control without risking the security of their home networks.

“The shift toward AI and agents represents a fundamental re-platforming of the internet that’s driving demand across Cloudflare’s services,” CEO Matthew Prince said in a statement.

The upbeat results on Tuesday could also help allay investor concerns around sustaining customer demand after a Cloudflare outage in November had prevented thousands from accessing major internet platforms, including X and ChatGPT.

Cloudflare forecast 2026 sales between $2.79 billion and $2.80 billion, above estimates of $2.74 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

It also expects first-quarter sales between $620 million and $621 million, also above estimates of $613.9 million.

The company reported that the December quarter revenue grew 33.6% to $614.5 million, beating estimates of $591.3 million.

Its net loss narrowed to $12.1 million in the quarter, from $12.8 million in the year-ago period.

Shares of the company are down over 8% so far this year, after gaining more than 83% in 2025.

(This story has been corrected to drop the reference to Anthropic and say that Clawsbot was renamed to OpenClaw, in paragraph 4)