Anthropic Targets $2 Trillion IPO Valuation Record

Anthropic, the company that makes the artificial intelligence (AI) model "Claude," filed a securities registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on October 26, local time. This marked the start of its process to sell shares to the public for the first time, known as an initial public offering (IPO). The company plans to list its shares on the Nasdaq stock market next month under the symbol "ANT."

The company has not yet announced how many shares it will sell or the price of each share. However, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing sources, reported that Anthropic could be valued at $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion (about 2,000 trillion to 2,700 trillion Korean won) and could raise more than $100 billion from the IPO. If its value reaches the upper end of that estimate, it would beat SpaceX's record from June, when the company reached an IPO valuation of $1.77 trillion and raised $85.7 billion, the largest amount ever raised in an IPO.

The IPO will also test whether the AI boom can continue in public stock markets. Investors are closely examining whether AI companies can earn enough money to justify their enormous spending on computer systems and other infrastructure, as well as their very high company valuations. Based on information in Anthropic's securities filing, here are five key issues.

◇① Revenue Grows 14 Times, but Expected Company Value Falls

Anthropic's financial results in the filing show both very strong demand and very high costs. The company's revenue for the first half of this year reached $16.286 billion, 14 times the amount for the same period last year. Businesses are moving beyond testing AI and are now using Claude more widely for computer programming and automating tasks. This has led to a sharp rise in paid use. According to the filing, by the end of September, more than half of the Fortune 500 companies had paid Anthropic more than $100,000.

However, Anthropic's net loss for the same period came close to $80.748 billion. About $72.4 billion of that loss did not involve an immediate payment of cash. It came from accounting rules for convertible bonds (CBs), a type of debt that can be changed into shares. As Anthropic's company value rose, the recorded value of these bonds also increased, and the company counted that change as an expense.

Anthropic reported an adjusted operating profit of $1.618 billion, meaning it made money from its business under this adjusted measure. But this figure left out costs such as shares given to employees as part of their pay. Under standard accounting rules, the company had an operating loss of $693 million.

Investors are already becoming less optimistic about how high Anthropic's value could go. Reuters reported, citing people who attended an investor presentation, that Anthropic's third-quarter revenue was $16.8 billion, up 45% from the previous quarter. That is still strong growth, but it was slower than in the second quarter, when revenue more than doubled. Some investors are now discussing a company value closer to $1.5 trillion than $2 trillion. This suggests that Anthropic's valuation could fall if its growth does not meet expectations.

◇② One Special Share Gives Founders Most Voting Power

Anthropic's unusual rules for running the company are also drawing attention because they allow its founders to keep influence after the company goes public. A separate company called "Founder LLC," set up by the co-founders, holds one special Class F share. This share gives it 50.1% of the voting power on general shareholder matters. As a result, the founders can keep majority voting power even if they own a smaller share of the company.

However, the founders do not have complete control on their own. A "Long-Term Benefit Trust," made up of independent trustees, holds special Class T shares. These shares allow the trust to appoint and remove most members of the board. Anthropic said this arrangement helps protect AI safety and the public interest.

Major investors such as Amazon and Google received Class N shares. These shares provide financial benefits, such as dividends, but do not give voting rights. The co-founders promised to use 80% of their personal shares for charitable purposes. By the end of June, Anthropic had also given a subsidiary focused on public benefit shares equal to 5% of its total shares after accounting for possible dilution.

This structure is seen as a way to protect decisions about AI safety from pressure to make quick profits or from interference by large investors. However, ordinary investors who provide money to the company will have limited influence over major management decisions. In a letter, the founders described the company's purpose as "the responsible development and maintenance of advanced AI for humanity's long-term benefit."

◇③ AI Company Values Could Affect Chipmakers and Data Centers

The effects of this IPO could reach far beyond Anthropic and affect the whole AI industry. It will help show how much money AI companies can earn after spending huge amounts on chips and cloud computing services. The IPO price and how Anthropic's shares perform after listing could affect the values of other mature but not-yet-public AI companies, as well as companies that provide the equipment and services they need.

In a September report, Goldman Sachs said that nearly half of the growth in earnings per share among S&P 500 companies this year came from AI investments. Building data centers and buying equipment have helped semiconductor makers and industrial goods companies improve their results. But this boost could weaken if investment growth slows and the cost of equipment wearing out rises. In the future, businesses will need to earn more through productivity gains from using AI to keep profits growing.

Morgan Stanley estimated that the global cost of building data centers from 2025 through 2028 would reach $2.9 trillion. It expects large cloud computing companies to cover $1.4 trillion of that amount using money generated by their businesses. The rest would need to come from corporate bonds, private loans, or outside investors. If AI companies fail to make money from their technology as quickly as expected, the effects could spread beyond stock markets to bond and loan markets. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are both leading underwriters for this IPO, meaning they help manage the share sale.

◇④ "Catastrophic Risk to Humanity"… AI Company Warns of Dangers

Anthropic described the dangers linked to its AI development in its securities filing. The "Risk Factors" section runs for about 94 pages, from page 26 to page 120. That is nearly one-quarter of the 400-page document.

The company warned, "Highly advanced AI, if developed, deployed, or operated without adequate safety measures, oversight, or security protocols, could pose catastrophic or existential risks to humanity." It said the risks could grow if AI is misused, copied, turned into a weapon, or given a high level of independence. Anthropic pointed to hacking attempts that used its tools and cases in which AI models, including its own, showed behavior such as trying to avoid being shut down, hiding information, or making statements that could be understood as threats.

These dangers could directly affect the business. Stronger safety checks could slow development and raise costs. On the other hand, accidents could lead to lawsuits, new rules, and damage to the company's reputation. Anthropic also warned that using AI to speed up research and development could make AI models more capable faster than safety measures can be developed.

◇⑤ Legal Fight with U.S. Government Is Another Risk

Anthropic listed its legal dispute with the U.S. government as another business risk. The conflict began when the company opposed using its AI for large-scale surveillance of people in the United States and for fully autonomous weapons that can operate without human control. In response, President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using Anthropic's technology. The Department of Defense also labeled the company a "supply chain risk" for national security.

Anthropic sued the government. According to its filing, a federal court in California largely ruled in the company's favor in August. However, a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., upheld a separate decision to label Anthropic a supply chain risk in September, based on different legal grounds. Legal cases involving different issues are still ongoing. Anthropic said the dispute could affect not only its government contracts but also private companies' use of Claude for military and defense work.