Anthropic Files for IPO, Kicking Off a Trillion-Dollar AI Debut Race with OpenAI and SpaceX

The confidential filing

Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, announced on Monday that it has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement, known as an S-1 form, to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a proposed initial public offering. The company stated that the move gives it the option to go public after the SEC completes its review, but that the final decision will depend on market conditions and other factors. The number of shares to be offered and their price range have not yet been determined.

This gives us the option to go public after the SEC completes its review. The proposed initial public offering will depend on market conditions and other factors.

A new valuation leader

This step comes just days after Anthropic closed a massive $65 billion private funding round, which valued the five-year-old company at $965 billion. This valuation officially surpasses that of its chief rival, OpenAI, which was recently valued at around $852 billion. Anthropic also reported an annualized revenue of $47 billion, driven largely by the adoption of its developer-focused tool, Claude Code.

The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined.

The trillion-dollar IPO race

Anthropic is the first of the major AI players to take this formal step, but it is not alone. OpenAI is also expected to confidentially file for an IPO in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Elon Musk's SpaceX, which now encompasses his AI venture xAI, filed its own prospectus in April and is reportedly pursuing a $1.75 trillion valuation, aiming to raise $75 billion. The three companies are racing to public markets to secure the massive capital required for energy-hungry AI infrastructure, including computer chips and data centers.

Safety, disputes, and reputation

Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees concerned about AI safety, Anthropic has positioned itself as a responsible leader in the industry. This reputation was tested and arguably strengthened by a bitter dispute with the Pentagon this year, after CEO Dario Amodei demanded restrictions on military use of Claude. The Trump administration declared the company a threat to national security, a move analysts saw as an attempt to cripple it, but which Anthropic used to burnish its safety credentials. The company also recently gained visibility through a Super Bowl LX ad campaign and an executive's participation in Pope Leo XIV's delivery of his "Magnifica Humanitas" encyclical.

Financial headwinds and market doubts

Despite the soaring valuations, all three companies are still losing more money than they make, fueling concerns of an AI bubble. SpaceX alone has disclosed $13 billion in losses since the beginning of 2023, primarily driven by its AI division. Doubts persist about whether the hundreds of billions of dollars being invested in AI infrastructure can ever be recouped. Anthropic itself has faced difficulties in meeting the demand for computing power, lacking enough chips and deployed servers, and has struck multiple deals with Amazon, Google, and Broadcom to secure more capacity.