Abstract:
Artificial intelligence company Anthropic is moving forward with plans for an initial public offering (IPO). Although U.S. technology stocks have recently experienced a sharp sell-off, investment enthusiasm in the artificial intelligence industry has cooled down, and Nvidia CEO Huang Jensen's involvement in personal relationships and espionage accusations have also increased market attention, Anthropic has not changed its listing arrangements.
The news quoted people familiar with the matter from the Wall Street Journal as saying that Anthropic plans to determine the IPO price range this week and is expected to officially start trading next Thursday or Friday. If this timetable is realized, Anthropic will become one of the most watched large technology company listings in the global capital market in recent times.
However, compared with previous market expectations for its valuation, investors now appear more cautious. A few months ago, the market had discussed that Anthropic could be valued at US$2 trillion after its listing; by this past week, the focus of discussion had dropped to about US$1.5 trillion. But even so, some institutional investors still believe that this valuation is on the high side and hope that the company will further lower the price to increase the attractiveness of the stock after listing.
Valuation adjustments reflect the changing investment environment in the artificial intelligence industry. Previously, the market was generally willing to pay high premiums for the rapid growth and future market potential of AI companies. However, the recent sharp fluctuations in technology stocks and the increasing investment in data centers and computing infrastructure by large technology companies have made investors pay more attention to the actual profitability, capital expenditures and long-term cash flow of companies.
Anthropic’s listing will also become an important indicator of investment enthusiasm in the artificial intelligence industry. Since the company is OpenAI's main competitor in the generative artificial intelligence market, its IPO pricing and listing performance are likely to affect investors' valuation judgments on the entire AI industry.
It is worth noting that OpenAI has also recently completed a new round of financing. According to reports, the company received US$11 billion in new funding and its post-financing valuation reached approximately US$1.25 trillion. However, the size of this round of financing is lower than the US$20 billion target it originally sought, showing that even the most closely watched companies in the field of artificial intelligence need to face a more cautious attitude from investors in the current market environment.
Anthropic has previously formally submitted listing registration documents to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on October 26, 2026, and plans to list on Nasdaq using the stock code ANT. The company disclosed that revenue in the first half of 2026 reached US$16.3 billion, compared with only US$1.2 billion in the same period last year. Revenue grew very rapidly.
But rapid growth does not mean profitability has been achieved. Anthropic recorded an operating loss of US$693 million during the same period, and its net loss reached US$80.7 billion, a large part of which came from non-cash accounting adjustments related to convertible debt. The company also clearly reminded investors in its listing documents that it may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability in the future.
In terms of enterprise customers, Anthropic’s commercialization progress has been quite significant. As of the end of September 2026, the company has more than 11,900 customers with annual consumption of more than US$100,000, including approximately 1,900 customers with annual consumption of more than US$1 million, and approximately 250 customers with annual consumption of more than US$10 million. This shows that Claude is no longer just a chatbot for individual users, but has gradually become an important tool in enterprise software development, knowledge work and automation processes.
Anthropic’s IPO also has an unusual governance arrangement. The company's seven co-founders will jointly control 50.1% of shareholder voting rights after the listing through Founder LLC, while the company's long-term benefit trust (Long-Term Benefit Trust) has the power to appoint a majority of the board of directors. This system is designed to ensure that the company still adheres to its long-term public interest and artificial intelligence safety mission after going public.
However, this also means that even if ordinary public shareholders invest a large amount of money to purchase stocks, it is difficult to substantially influence the company's major decisions through shareholder voting. For institutions and individuals who want to invest in Anthropic, the company's governance structure will become a factor that cannot be ignored when evaluating its long-term investment value.
Anthropic's current challenges are not limited to its listing valuation. The company needs to continue to invest huge sums of money to build computing infrastructure, while also dealing with competition from OpenAI, Google, and open source models. How to convert rapidly growing revenue into sustainable profits will be a key concern for public market investors.
If Anthropic can complete its listing next week as planned, this will become an important financing event in the history of the development of the artificial intelligence industry. At the same time, whether the final issuance price can be recognized by institutional investors will also test how much premium the market is willing to pay for the future growth of AI companies. It should be emphasized that as of November 9, the specific valuation range and final issuance price have not been announced, and the listing time is still subject to the company's subsequent official announcement.
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