Anthropic books staggering $81B loss, warns of data center backlash as Amodei siblings draw modest salaries
Anthropic, a major artificial intelligence company, reported a huge net loss of $80.7 billion in the first half of 2026, mostly because of accounting charges. The company also warned that growing opposition to data centers could threaten its business.
The San Francisco-based company is getting ready for a major initial public offering (IPO), which could value it at as much as $2 trillion. But it warned that more voters are opposing data centers and artificial intelligence.
Anthropic said opposition to data centers has “become more organized and coordinated across jurisdictions,” according to a filing reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The company, led by CEO Dario Amodei, said its high public profile “may draw particular attention to projects associated with us.”
Anthropic said most of its data center capacity is in the United States, although it has signed letters of intent to develop more facilities in other countries. In recent months, public opinion about AI in the US has become less positive, and people have protested against building data centers.
Lior Prosor, a partner at Deep33 Ventures, said he did not think this opposition would stop Anthropic's IPO or slow its growth in the near future.
“Risk the IPO? I don’t think so,” Prosor told The Post. He explained that data centers just starting to seek building permits would not be ready to operate until the second half of 2028.
However, he agreed that government rules and restrictions could become a bigger problem over the long term.
Anthropic said it had asked its major cloud computing partners for more computing power than they were willing to provide.
The company faces more than $600 billion in future costs for cloud computing and chip rentals. Deals it is still discussing could add another $150 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Prosor said Anthropic is “certainly taking meaningful risks” by agreeing to such large computing expenses. At the same time, companies that secured computing power early have benefited from the sharp rise in demand for AI.
He said Anthropic should “raise as much capital as possible” so it can deal with possible problems as the market develops.
“This is not going to be straight up and to the right forever,” Prosor warned, meaning that growth will not continue smoothly forever.
According to the report, Anthropic's loss in the first half of 2026 was much larger than its $13 billion loss a year earlier. About $72 billion of the loss came from accounting charges linked to changes in the value of convertible notes and other ways of raising money.
The $72 billion figure reflected changes in the value of convertible notes and other fundraising tools.
Meanwhile, the siblings who run Anthropic received less total pay last year than the median CEO at an S&P 500 technology company, according to pay information cited by The Wall Street Journal.
Dario Amodei and his sister Daniela Amodei, the company's president, each received a base salary of about $655,000 in 2025.
However, the siblings are far from struggling financially.
Stock and stock-option awards raised Dario's total pay to about $18 million last year. Daniela's total pay package was worth about $16.5 million, according to the filing.
Data from MyLogIQ cited by The Wall Street Journal showed that their pay packages were about the same as the middle level of CEO pay across the S&P 500 as a whole, but lower than the middle level for technology companies in the index.
The draft prospectus also says the siblings could receive more company shares if they reach certain goals.
Anthropic's co-founders have each promised to give 80% of their ownership stakes to charity. Separately, the company plans to put 5% of its shares into a public benefit fund announced on Sunday.
Anthropic's revenue rose to $16.3 billion in the first half of 2026, up from $1.1 billion in the same period a year earlier.
During the same period, spending on computing and infrastructure rose to nearly $9 billion from $2.3 billion.
Anthropic also warned that its business depends heavily on a small number of large customers. Just two customers provided about one-fifth of its revenue in the first half of the year.
According to the prospectus, the company expects a “significant portion” of its sales to keep coming from a “limited number of customers for the foreseeable future.”
Anthropic declined to comment to The Wall Street Journal about these disclosures. The news comes as the AI company prepares to raise money from public investors to help pay for its ambitious expansion.
The Post has asked Anthropic for comment.