Anthropic is moving closer to what could become one of the largest initial public offerings in history, with the Claude developer reportedly preparing to begin marketing its IPO from mid-October and investors discussing a valuation of around US$2 trillion.
The artificial intelligence company confidentially submitted a draft S-1 registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on June 1, giving it the option to proceed with a listing once the regulatory review is completed. Anthropic has not formally set an offering price, number of shares or valuation.
The IPO timetable has shifted towards mid-October at the earliest, with Anthropic also working to finalise a US$15 billion revolving credit facility as preparations accelerate. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Citi are among the banks working on the offering.
Revenue growth fuels valuation expectations
The potential valuation is being underpinned by extraordinary revenue growth as Claude gains traction with businesses and software developers.
Anthropic's annualised revenue run rate climbed above US$65 billion by the end of July, compared with US$47 billion in May and roughly US$9 billion at the end of 2025.
The company is also reportedly projecting revenue of around US$190 billion to US$200 billion by 2028, figures likely to play a major role in determining how investors value the business.
Anthropic's last major private financing valued the company at US$965 billion in May after it raised US$65 billion, meaning a US$2 trillion public valuation would represent another substantial step-up in barely a few months.
AI boom faces its public-market test
An Anthropic listing would give public-market investors one of their clearest direct exposures yet to the generative AI boom.
Until now, much of the stock market's AI trade has centred on companies supplying the infrastructure behind artificial intelligence, particularly semiconductor makers, cloud providers and data centre operators.
Anthropic would offer something different: exposure directly to a developer of frontier AI models and the rapidly expanding enterprise market for AI agents, coding tools and automated workflows.
That could also make the IPO an important valuation benchmark for the wider sector.
Anthropic is racing against OpenAI to reach public markets, with both companies having submitted confidential IPO paperwork. Anthropic currently appears positioned to list first.
Investors will scrutinise the numbers
A US$2 trillion valuation would nevertheless set an exceptionally high bar.
At a US$65 billion annualised revenue run rate, such a valuation would imply investors are paying heavily for expectations of continued explosive growth rather than current earnings alone.
Competition is also intensifying as OpenAI, Google, Meta and other technology groups pour billions into increasingly capable models, while the enormous computing requirements of frontier AI mean capital expenditure remains a central issue.
For investors, Anthropic's IPO therefore represents more than another blockbuster technology listing.
It could provide one of the clearest indications yet of how much public markets are prepared to pay for the AI boom itself — rather than the chips and infrastructure supporting it.