Anthropic Pursues IPO at Up to $2 Trillion Valuation in Test of AI Pricing

Anthropic is pursuing a U.S. stock market listing at a valuation of as much as $2 trillion. Despite explosive revenue growth, the company continues to post steep losses and shoulder massive compute costs, setting up a key test of how public markets will value a frontier AI company.

Bloomberg and other outlets reported on October 1 that Anthropic is considering holding its initial public offering roadshow during the week of November 9 and beginning trading on November 26, before Thanksgiving. Even if the timetable slips, the company could still complete the listing this year.

Investors have floated a valuation of $1.8 trillion to $2 trillion. Hana Securities said the IPO could raise as much as $100 billion. If realized, that would top SpaceX's $75 billion fundraising in June and could make it the largest IPO on record.

Rapid growth is underpinning the valuation. Anthropic posted revenue of $4.6 billion last year, about 12 times the prior year's level. Its operating loss widened to $8.06 billion from $2.98 billion a year earlier. Net loss totaled about $42 billion, including roughly $34 billion in non-cash charges stemming from an increase in the value of previously issued convertible equity-linked instruments.

Compute spending for training and operating AI models remains another major burden. Of total operating expenses of $12.65 billion last year, compute and infrastructure costs came to $7.33 billion, accounting for more than half. Contractual obligations for cloud, compute and infrastructure over the next several years also amount to $518 billion.

Revenue concentration is another variable. About 25% of last year's revenue came from two customers. Because many major clients do not have long-term contracts, lower usage or contract terminations could add volatility to results.

Kim Jae-im, an analyst at Hana Securities, said the sustainability of revenue growth and greater efficiency in compute spending are the key factors in justifying the valuation.

Anthropic plans to maintain a founder-centric governance structure after the listing. Under that arrangement, a separate organization comprising seven co-founders would hold 50.1% of the voting rights on major decisions.

Kim added that Anthropic's IPO would be the first major case in which public markets fully test the business performance and profitability of a large frontier AI company. The market's assessment after the listing could become a benchmark for AI company valuations, disclosure standards and the infrastructure investment cycle, including for OpenAI.