Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company behind the Claude chatbot, has made a confidential filing for an initial public offering (IPO) that could see it valued at over $2.5 trillion, sending shockwaves through the finance world. The move intensifies the AI space race to unprecedented levels.
Confidential Filing Details
The company confirmed it submitted paperwork to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for review without immediately disclosing financials or business details. This confidential filing allows Anthropic to proceed toward going public once the SEC completes its review, with market conditions and other factors influencing the final timeline. The number of shares and pricing have not yet been set.
Anthropic is now expected to close its first day of trading with a market capitalization above $1.8 trillion (approximately $2.5 trillion US). Combined with SpaceX, which is also preparing for an IPO, the total market cap on debut could exceed $3.5 trillion ($4.8 trillion).
Funding and Valuation Surge
The IPO filing comes just days after Anthropic raised $65 billion ($90 billion) in a funding round that valued the OpenAI rival at $965 billion ($1.3 trillion), placing it on the cusp of a trillion-dollar valuation. This fundraising cements Anthropic's position as a dominant player in AI, particularly focusing on enterprise clients.
Anthropic's valuation now surpasses OpenAI, which was valued at $852 billion ($1.1 trillion) in March and is also planning an IPO. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told CNBC that going public is a financing event but not an immediate priority, though he expects it will happen eventually.
Company Background and Products
Founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, along with other former OpenAI executives, Anthropic has positioned itself as a safety-focused alternative in the AI landscape. Its coding assistant, Claude Code, has become a popular product for developers, helping drive projected annual revenue to $47 billion ($65 billion).
Despite commercial success, the company has faced challenges meeting demand for computing power due to chip and server shortages. Users have complained about exhausting usage quotas quickly and facing high prices to continue. In response, Anthropic secured gigawatts of computing capacity from Amazon, Google, and Broadcom.
Elon Musk Deal
Last month, Anthropic signed a surprise agreement with Elon Musk, leasing access to his Colossus data centers in Memphis, Tennessee, for $1.25 billion ($1.74 billion) per month. The facility, previously underutilized by Musk's xAI lab (creator of the Grok chatbot), will help Anthropic meet its computing needs.
IPO Market Resurgence
Anthropic and OpenAI's IPOs are likely to follow SpaceX to Wall Street. SpaceX, which absorbed xAI, could see shares begin trading as early as June 12, targeting a valuation of approximately $1.75 trillion ($2.4 billion) in what would be the largest IPO in history. Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities described this as opening the floodgates for a dormant IPO market.
Anthropic's IPO filing comes amid a legal dispute with the Pentagon, which designated the company a supply chain risk after it refused to grant the military unrestricted access to its AI models. Anthropic called the Defense Department's move unconstitutional retaliation.
Wall Street and AI Stocks Surge
Despite rising oil prices, Wall Street's three main indices closed at records on Monday, buoyed by tech stocks. Nvidia shares bounced 6.3% after unveiling a powerful laptop chip for Windows machines, staking a claim in the market for next-generation consumer PCs integrated with AI. Dell Technologies shares climbed 10.7%, and HP rose 8.5%.
Investor enthusiasm for AI-related stocks has driven exchanges to record highs in recent weeks, even as Middle East tensions spark inflation. Europe's main equity markets closed lower, while the dollar firmed against its rivals. The ASX is poised to fall by 0.4% on opening.
Google's $80 Billion AI Move
Google parent Alphabet announced plans to raise up to $80 billion in stock to fund a major expansion of its AI infrastructure, with Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway committing $10 billion. The fundraising comes as Alphabet ramps up capital expenditures, expected to reach $180-$190 billion in 2026 and rise further in 2027. Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta are collectively on track to pour roughly $700 billion into AI data centers, chips, and computing infrastructure this year.
Alphabet plans to raise the funds through a $30 billion public stock offering, a $10 billion private sale to Berkshire Hathaway, and a $40 billion share sale program in the third quarter. CEO Sundar Pichai noted the company is "compute constrained in the near term," unable to build infrastructure fast enough to meet demand.
