Anthropic Prepares for IPO: Net Loss Exceeds $80.7 Billion in the First Half, with Total Commitments to Spend Over $600 Billion
According to a draft of Anthropic's IPO prospectus cited by The Wall Street Journal, the company has promised to spend more than $600 billion on computing power. Its total commitments under agreements related to computing power exceed $518 billion over the next 10 years. The company is also in talks to increase its computing capacity further. Meanwhile, it reported revenue of $16.3 billion in the first half of this year, and revenue in the third quarter rose 45% from the previous quarter to $16.8 billion.
Anthropic is spending cash at an unusually fast rate to expand its computing capacity. At the same time, it is speeding up preparations for what could become the largest IPO in its history.
On October 20, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a draft of Anthropic's IPO prospectus, that the AI startup recorded a net loss of more than $80.7 billion in the first half of 2026. Of this amount, $72 billion came from accounting adjustments related to changes in the value of convertible notes and other financing tools. This was a sharp increase from its net loss of $13 billion last year.
Anthropic's huge investment in computing power has also drawn market attention. According to The Wall Street Journal, the company has promised to spend more than $600 billion on computing infrastructure. Its total commitments under computing-related agreements exceed $518 billion over the next 10 years, and it is currently discussing ways to expand its computing capacity further.
Analysts say this level of spending is an important factor that potential investors must consider when deciding how much the company is worth. Anthropic is reportedly aiming to go public in November, with a target valuation of between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion.
The company's computing commitments are enormous, and demand for NVIDIA chips has surged.
Anthropic's investment in computing infrastructure is approaching its limits.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the company plans to spend as much as $750 billion on computing power. Up to $86 billion of that amount would be used just to lease NVIDIA chips. Anthropic spent about $9 billion on computing power in the first half of 2026 alone. Its total spending on computing and infrastructure in 2025 was $7.33 billion.
Reports say Anthropic is in talks with Nscale, a growing cloud computing provider based in the UK, to expand their computing partnership. Anthropic plans to lease computing resources from the second building at Nscale's Monarch data center campus in West Virginia. This would add about 460 megawatts of computing capacity. The facility would use NVIDIA's latest-generation Vera Rubin chips. Anthropic also has priority negotiation rights for a third building that is still being planned.
If the deal is completed, the total value of contracts between Anthropic and Nscale will rise to about $90 billion.
For its cloud computing agreements, Anthropic is expected to spend about $111 billion on Google Cloud, around $110 billion on Amazon AWS, and roughly $31 billion on Microsoft Azure, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Revenue is growing quickly, but the company is still spending cash at a high rate.
Despite its enormous losses, Anthropic's revenue is also growing very quickly.
According to Reuters, a person familiar with the matter who attended Anthropic's pre-IPO investor conference in San Francisco said the company's full-year revenue in 2025 was expected to grow twelvefold to about $4.6 billion. Revenue in the third quarter of 2026 was expected to rise 45% from the previous quarter to $16.8 billion.
However, this rapid growth has come with ongoing operating losses. In 2025, the company's operating loss exceeded $8 billion, excluding various accounting write-downs of liabilities linked to earlier financing.
The company said it achieved positive adjusted profitability in the second quarter of 2026. However, exactly what it means by "adjusted" profit still needs to be explained. Investors will have to wait for the release of fully audited financial results for more details.
As an IPO approaches, investors must weigh the high valuation against the company's large financial commitments.
Anthropic is reportedly preparing for an IPO that could set a new record, with a target valuation of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion. The company plans to list its shares in November this year, although the exact date has not yet been decided. SpaceX's earlier IPO had previously held the record for the highest market valuation.
Analysts say potential investors should examine several important points in these financial figures:
First, although most of the $80.7 billion net loss came from accounting adjustments rather than cash actually leaving the company, it still shows that the value of the company's previously issued financing instruments can change sharply.
Second, the company's promise to spend more than $600 billion on computing power means it will face major spending commitments that will be difficult to avoid over the next several years.
Third, it is still unclear exactly what the company means by "adjusted net profit," and its full audited financial statements have not yet been made public.
As AI companies compete more fiercely to secure computing power, the market is also paying closer attention to how these companies are financed and how their finances are structured.
Editor: Liam