As Claude maker Anthropic prepares to head to the bourse, it is not only outpacing ChatGPT creator OpenAI in a race to an initial public offering (IPO) but also in value, garnering users and improving margins.
Anthropic, founded in 2021 by former OpenAI executives – siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei – is reportedly set to hit the market with a $1 trillion valuation, also ahead of OpenAI.
If all goes to plan, that will make it the most valuable artificial intelligence (AI) company listed in both the US and the world, slotting in at 15th place in Market Cap’s list of the world’s most valuable companies, just under Eli Lilly.
Anthropic is already the world’s most valuable AI company based on recent funding rounds that make it worth $965 billion, according to Reuters.
The GenAI company has yet to release a pre-listing statement into the public domain, having filed a confidential document with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on 1 June, which does not disclose the size or the terms of the offering. Reports indicate it will make its debut in October, seeking to raise more than $60 billion.
Show me the zeroes
Brokerage ThinkMarkets says that, should the IPO raise more than $60 billion, it would rank among the largest technology listings on record. Anthropic’s value has rocketed: a February fundraising put total company worth at $380 billion, which more than doubled three months later.
The $965 billion valuation officially eclipses OpenAI, which earlier this year closed a $122 billion private funding round at an $852 billion valuation, says financial services company The Motley Fool.
The Motley Fool’s Bram Berkowitz notes Anthropic made it clear that whether it actually follows through with an IPO will depend on market conditions and other factors. “While many details about the company remain unknown, Anthropic could end up being the only $1 trillion IPO worth buying,” says Berkowitz.
“Anthropic has come a long way since the release of AI chatbots in 2022. OpenAI once looked like it had a lead that it would never surrender. However, Anthropic has now surpassed it in terms of valuation,” Berkowitz adds.
As of 3 June, says The Motley Fool, people betting on Polymarket are placing a 53% chance that the stock closes its first day of trading at a market cap over $1.8 trillion. “Now, it’s hard to know exactly what kind of valuation Anthropic will target, given its success. Obviously, there is still a lot we don’t know,” it adds.
However, The Motley Fool says there is a chance Anthropic will go public at a valuation much more reasonable than OpenAI’s. If Anthropic targeted a $1 trillion valuation, it would be asking investors to pay far less per dollar of expected revenue than OpenAI would. “The path to profitability also carries significant sway.”
Chips, clouds and $8 billion friends
Claude competes directly with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google DeepMind’s Gemini and xAI’s Grok. Amazon and Google have each invested around $8 billion in Anthropic and, with both also providing cloud infrastructure, Anthropic has gained access to significant resources, writes Berkowitz.
Separately, xAI’s Colossus supercomputer cluster, now part of SpaceX following its acquisition of xAI, is leased to Anthropic for $1.25 billion a month, giving the company access to substantial additional compute capacity.
Berkowitz says access to public capital markets will provide Anthropic with capital that will “likely be directed towards the substantial computing infrastructure required to train and operate frontier AI models at scale”.
The company also appears to have been more conservative with spending commitments, says The Motley Fool. It notes that CEO Dario Amodei said on a podcast in February: “I think it is true we’re spending somewhat less than some of the other players.”
Growing fast, getting leaner
Anthropic reported an annualised revenue run rate of around $14 billion in early 2026, with internal projections targeting $55 billion by 2027, though the company does not expect to reach profitability until around 2028, says ThinkMarkets. Other reports indicate it will hit an operating profit in the current quarter.
Research company Semianalysis notes that its revenue has grown almost five-fold, and Anthropic has improved margins from less than 40% to more than 70% despite rising chip costs because of increased efficiencies, making the company substantially more profitable.
Even if computing costs increase, Anthropic has scope to improve margins by encouraging greater use of its premium AI products, says Semianalysis. However, it warns that further monetisation may face resistance, citing criticism of Claude Code’s $100-a-month subscriptions and restrictions on third-party app OpenClaw.
Then the market wakes up
Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group, says on market data firm investing.com that Anthropic and other imminent blockbuster tech listings are arriving on public markets carrying enormous expectations.
“Their valuations reflect extraordinary optimism about the future. Investors are effectively placing bets not only on future earnings but also on the belief that these companies will remain at the centre of technological change for years, perhaps decades.”
Green adds that “history offers countless examples of celebrated IPOs struggling once the excitement of listing day fades”. This, he says, is because investors often become captivated by what a company could become, only to shift their focus towards execution, profitability and operational discipline after the shares are publicly traded.
“Markets have little patience for disappointment,” says Green.
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