Customers pick cheaper models as data centre backlash builds ahead of the filing
Anthropic could raise more than US$100bn in an initial public offering that would rank as the largest ever completed, with a public filing possible within weeks.
Bankers for the company told potential investors the offering could value it at about US$2tn, The New York Times reported, citing two people with knowledge of the conversations.
Anthropic expects to match or beat the size of SpaceX's record-setting debut, according to Bloomberg, which reported that the rocket and satellite firm raised US$75bn at the outset and US$86.2bn once the overallotment option was included.
The New York Times put the SpaceX total at US$85.7bn including the underwriter option.
Anthropic's annualized revenue run rate reached US$65bn by the end of July, up from US$9bn at the end of last year, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Second-quarter revenue came in above US$11.5bn on a preliminary basis, compared with US$787m in the same period of 2025, according to documents seen by Bloomberg; The New York Times reported a figure of US$11.6bn.
The Financial Times reported that Anthropic recorded its first adjusted operating profit in the second quarter and has told investors it is likely to be profitable again in the third.
The company posted a net loss of almost US$42bn in 2025, roughly five times the US$8.3bn loss a year earlier, Bloomberg reported.
Bloomberg reported that Anthropic was valued at US$965bn after a May funding round that raised US$65bn, surpassing OpenAI's US$852bn valuation from March.
The New York Times put the May valuation at US$900bn against US$730bn for OpenAI.
Opposition to data centre construction is expected to feature as a key risk factor in the prospectus, people familiar with the matter told CNBC.
A Gallup survey published in May found that seven in 10 Americans opposed AI data centre construction in their area, with close to half of those polled strongly opposed and roughly a quarter in favour.
Byron Donalds, winner of Florida's gubernatorial primary, has proposed restrictions on data centres in the state, and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order imposing tougher standards on developers, CNBC reported.
Politicians in both parties have moved against data centre development ahead of the midterms.
Spending on Fable 5, Anthropic's largest and priciest model, has plateaued at about 11 percent of overall outlay on the company's tools more than two months after release, according to data from 70,000 companies collected by payments group Ramp and cited by the Financial Times.
Miles Clements, a partner at Accel, which has invested close to US$1bn in Anthropic, told the FT that "most people don't need to operate at the frontier."
Anthropic's lower-priced Opus 5 has already overtaken Fable on business spending since its late-July launch, Ramp data cited by the FT show.
CFO Krishna Rao has fielded investor questions on competition, margin pressure from open-source models, and the consequences of a data centre slowdown, people familiar with the meetings told CNBC.
Anthropic executives have argued that continued model improvements will let the company keep charging a premium, The New York Times reported.
Anthropic has been preparing to give CEO Dario Amodei and other co-founders a class of stock carrying extra voting power, Reuters reported, citing The Information.
Amodei owns about 2 percent of the company.
Anthropic is structured as a public benefit corporation and maintains a Long-Term Benefit Trust as an independent oversight body, Reuters reported.
Anthropic filed confidentially in June and is working with Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase on the offering, Bloomberg reported.
US IPO volume reached US$160.6bn through August 19, against the 2021 record of US$195.2bn, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Anthropic declined to comment.
