Anthropic, the developer of the AI model Claude, is preparing for a public initial public offering (IPO) in the coming weeks. This mega-IPO is anticipated to raise as much as, if not more than, SpaceX's record-setting $86.2 billion debut. The sheer size of Anthropic's offering is casting a significant shadow over other companies' plans for US listings, as they contend for investor attention and market space, particularly after the September 7 Labor Day holiday.
The company confidentially filed to go public in June 2026, targeting a Nasdaq listing, with a public prospectus expected around late August or after Labor Day and trading penciled in for late September or October. Market discussions suggest a potential valuation in the range of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion, significantly higher than its private valuation of nearly $1 trillion. This valuation implies aggressive revenue and margin assumptions, especially considering potential political resistance to data center development, which is crucial for AI compute capacity.
Anthropic's IPO comes at a time when the broader US listings market has seen mixed performance. While overall US listings are up 5.6% on a weighted average basis this year, this lags behind the S&P 500's 13% gain and the Nasdaq 100's 17% advance. Specifically, the 16 deals that raised at least $1 billion are up just 4.2% on a weighted average basis, and six of the ten largest now trade below their offer price. Even SpaceX, which Anthropic aims to surpass, is up less than 5% since its listing, a modest return for a record-breaking transaction.
Despite recording a net loss of almost $42 billion in 2025, a significant increase from $8.3 billion in 2024, Anthropic has shown rapid revenue growth. Preliminary second-quarter revenue reached over $11.5 billion, a substantial increase from $787 million in the corresponding period in 2025, with its annual revenue run-rate hitting $65 billion by the end of July. The company is working with major banks including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and JPMorgan Chase & Co. on the IPO and is also set to finalize a revolving credit facility exceeding its $10 billion target.
