Anthropic Lost More Money Than All Other Major Companies Combined

Investors are seeing just how much money AI companies can lose. The amounts are enormous.

Anthropic, a major AI company that plans to sell shares to the public in the coming months, lost $80.7 billion in the first half of 2026, according to the Wall Street Journal, which reviewed regulatory filings. That is nearly $10 billion more than the total losses of every money-losing company in the S&P 500, S&P Midcap 400 and S&P SmallCap 600 combined during the same period, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

To understand how large Anthropic's loss was, consider Intel (INTC). Intel lost $14.8 billion in the first half of 2026. This was the largest loss by any single company in the S&P 1500 index during that period. Anthropic's loss was about seven times as large.

Will These Losses Last?

Investors need to understand these losses and consider whether they will last. Will AI companies raise prices or get more paying customers to reduce their losses? Or will they find ways to work more efficiently and offer their technology at a lower cost?

A lot is at stake. AI stock prices are becoming more unstable as investors worry about when the huge amounts spent on expensive data centers will start to pay off. Meanwhile, the interest rates on some unsecured AI bonds are rising as investors worry that AI companies may be taking on too much debt.

News of Anthropic's huge loss makes those fears seem justified.

Huge Company Losses

The largest net losses in the first half of 2026 among companies in the S&P 500, S&P 600 and S&P 400

Company	Ticker	Net loss 1H 2026 ($ billion)
Intel	INTC	-$14.8
Gilead Sciences	GILD	-$8.5
Lumentum Holdings	LITE	-$7.0
Merck	MRK	-$5.6
Kraft Heinz	KHC	-$4.7
Moderna	MRNA	-$2.1
MARA Holdings	MARA	-$1.9
Global Payments	GPN	-$1.8
General Mills	GIS	-$1.7
Conagra Brands	CAG	-$1.4

Sources: S&P Global Market Intelligence, IBD