Anthropic is reportedly set to file its IPO documents as early as this Friday, with its November listing plan entering a critical phase.

Anthropic is getting closer to its initial public offering (IPO), but investors are now expecting a lower company value. Revenue is still growing, but the company is spending huge amounts on computing power, and its growth is slowing. These factors are leading investors to take a closer look at whether the company can make a profit.

Anthropic, an artificial intelligence company, could publicly file its IPO registration documents as early as this Friday. This would be an important step toward its planned stock market listing in November.

If it goes ahead, the offering could become one of the largest IPOs in history. It will test whether public markets can support leading AI companies as spending on AI infrastructure continues to rise and investors take a closer look at company valuations across the industry.

People familiar with the matter say Anthropic is preparing to publicly file its S-1 registration statement. Yahoo Finance reported, citing three people who know about the company's plans, that the documents could be released as early as Friday. Anthropic had already privately submitted a draft IPO registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in June. However, the company has not commented on the exact date of the public filing.

Once the S-1 is made public, individual investors will be able to review Anthropic's financial position, business model, and risks in one place for the first time. This would mark further progress toward formal presentations to investors and the stock market listing. However, making the filing public does not mean that the listing date or the size of the offering has been finalized. The next steps will still depend on market conditions and regulatory procedures.

Investors lower their valuation expectations as they examine revenue growth and huge spending

Anthropic was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI executives Dario Amodei and his sister Daniela Amodei, along with others. The company has built a strong position in the business AI market with its Claude models, its AI coding tool Claude Code, and its business collaboration product Claude Cowork.

Even though the company is growing quickly, investors are examining its finances more closely as it prepares for an IPO. Reuters previously reported that some current and potential investors in the IPO had started discussing a company valuation of about $1.5 trillion. This is lower than the earlier market expectation of around $2 trillion.

These changing expectations are linked to the company's growth rate. Anthropic told potential investors that its revenue reached $16.8 billion in the third quarter, up about 45% from $11.5 billion in the second quarter. This is still strong growth, but it is slower than the period from the first quarter to the second quarter, when revenue more than doubled.

Anthropic continues to spend heavily on the computing systems and other infrastructure needed to train and run its Claude models. It relies on cloud services and computing resources from providers including Google's parent company Alphabet (GOOGL.O), Amazon (AMZN.O), and other computing suppliers. Previously disclosed information shows that Anthropic has committed to spending at least $518 billion on cloud services, computing capacity, and infrastructure over the next 10 years.

For investors, the main question is no longer just whether revenue can grow quickly. They also want to know whether that growth can cover the rising costs of training AI models, running them to answer requests, and providing computing power. Even if demand from businesses remains strong, continued increases in infrastructure spending could hurt long-term profits and the company's valuation if revenue growth slows.

A huge IPO will test enthusiasm for AI investments, while the company's disclosed risks will draw attention

Anthropic's plans to go public could affect not only its own fundraising but also when other AI companies decide to list their shares.

Earlier market expectations suggested that Anthropic's IPO could raise as much as $100 billion and value the company at $2 trillion. If those expectations are met, its valuation would be higher than SpaceX's approximately $1.77 trillion valuation when it listed in June this year, making Anthropic's offering one of the most closely watched large stock market offerings in history.

Investors are watching to see whether rapid growth can make up for high computing costs and whether Anthropic can continue to obtain enough computing resources.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that draft IPO documents it reviewed showed Anthropic earned about $16.3 billion in revenue in the first half of the year but recorded a net loss of more than $80 billion. The loss was largely due to accounting adjustments related to financing arrangements. The documents also showed that Anthropic depends on a relatively small number of customers for much of its revenue: its two largest customers together accounted for about one-fifth of its revenue in the first half of the year.

At the same time, AI-related stocks have become more volatile recently. Some data center companies have faced obstacles to their listing plans, and investors are paying closer attention to the cost of financing new computing infrastructure and the revenue it may generate in the future. Anthropic's public filings will give the market a clearer picture of its revenue growth, reliance on a small number of customers, infrastructure spending commitments, and other business risks.

Competitor OpenAI is expected to go public after Anthropic. Yahoo Finance reported that OpenAI currently expects to enter the public market as early as 2027. If Anthropic's listing goes smoothly, how its offering performs could give investors an important reference point for judging demand for the next wave of large AI company IPOs.