Abstract:
The controversy surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) has forced some companies to press the IPO pause button. As Anthropic’s listing approaches day by day, billions of dollars in funding and months of preparations have come to a standstill. "Everything seems to be paralyzed," said West Riggs, head of equity capital markets at Truist Financial. "The market has to sort itself out first."
AI infrastructure companies such as Nscale and DayOne Data Centers, which are preparing to go public in the United States, are still emphasizing their importance to investors in the construction of AI infrastructure. However, investors' appetite for risk has faded as shares of peers such as CoreWeave have plummeted. Data shows that October is bound to be the weakest month of the year based on the scale of U.S. IPO fundraising.
This is in sharp contrast to the previous hot momentum. Data shows that as of the end of September, IPO funds raised reached US$162.6 billion.
Wall Street is counting on Anthropic's expected IPO next month to generate record underwriting fee revenue. People familiar with the matter previously revealed that Anthropic’s fundraising scale may reach or exceed SpaceX’s listing. Other companies that are testing investors' willingness to subscribe are also eager for the company to successfully list and clear the way for other IPOs.
However, many on Wall Street, like Riggs, except Anthropic, are beginning to turn their attention to next year.
Riggs said in an interview: "The rest of the year doesn't feel very encouraging. Everyone is very optimistic about 2027, especially in the software industry, but overall, the IPO market is quite sluggish. Even a few projects that we are advancing that have nothing to do with AI seem to have been postponed."
Companies such as Nscale and Switch, data center developers in which Nvidia has a stake, are repeatedly polishing their IPO promotion plans. Meanwhile, about a dozen companies have made no progress with their IPO plans despite publicly filing documents with U.S. regulators.
As interest rates rise and the war in Iran continues, smart ring manufacturers Oura and Bamboo Insurance Services have also been forced to postpone their listings.
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