Anthropic is betting that artificial intelligence will change the global economy on a scale bigger than industrialisation, electricity and the internet, according to its IPO prospectus seen by Reuters. The company has not yet made an official filing public. 

Anthropic reported a net loss of $42 billion in 2025 and plans to spend $518 billion on cloud services, computing and infrastructure commitments in the coming years, according to the prospectus.

The AI company has grown rapidly over the past year, with its revenue rising 12 times in 2025 to nearly $4.6 billion. At the same time, its operating loss widened to more than $8 billion, excluding write-downs linked mainly to liabilities from earlier fundraising. 

Anthropic, PBC submitted a draft registration statement confidentially to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in June for a possible IPO of its common stock. This gives the company the option to go public after the SEC completes its review.

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The company’s public debut is also likely to come after the US midterm elections in November.

Anthropic IPO could value company at more than $2 trillion 

Anthropic’s planned public listing could value the company at more than $2 trillion. That would mark a huge jump for an AI startup that was founded only five years ago. The IPO could also give Wall Street a benchmark for valuing major AI companies, including rival OpenAI.

Anthropic’s expected valuation is more than twice the company’s own estimated valuation of $965 billion in May.

However, the nearly $42 billion net loss reported for 2025 needs some context.

Around $34 billion of that loss came from an accounting charge. The charge shows an increase in the estimated value of financing that could eventually be converted into Anthropic shares. The company did not actually spend that money running its business.

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Anthropic had $20.28 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments as of December 31, according to the prospectus. 

AI spending is rising sharply 

According to Reuters, Anthropic spent $7.33 billion on computing and infrastructure in 2025. That was about three times the amount it spent in 2024 and made up more than half of its total operating expenses of $12.65 billion.

The company also plans to take on another $518 billion in cloud, computing and infrastructure obligations in the coming years.

The scale of that spending shows how much money AI companies need to build and run increasingly powerful models.

Revenue has jumped, but customer risks remain 

Anthropic’s revenue rose 12-fold in 2025 to nearly $4.6 billion. But the company warned investors that its business also depends heavily on a relatively small number of customers.

Nearly a quarter of its revenue came from just two customers last year, according to the prospectus.

Anthropic also warned that many of its biggest customers do not have long-term contracts. This means they could reduce their spending with the company or stop spending altogether.

Anthropic enters trillion-dollar AI race 

Anthropic’s biggest rival is OpenAI. The two companies are competing for business customers, skilled employees and influence in Washington.

OpenAI confidentially filed for an IPO in June and is expected by media reports to go public by early 2027.

Anthropic was founded by researchers who left OpenAI after disagreements over governance and AI safety. The company is also competing with SpaceX’s xAI, Google’s AI operations and Meta as the companies race to build more AI infrastructure. 

Amazon and Google are major Anthropic backers 

Amazon and Google were among Anthropic’s early strategic partners. Both companies have invested billions of dollars in the AI startup.

They have also supplied the cloud infrastructure Anthropic needs to train and run its Claude AI models.

Anthropic’s relationship with the US government has also faced tensions. The company and CEO Amodei have clashed with the White House over how its AI tools should be used.

That dispute led the Pentagon to temporarily blacklist Anthropic. A US judge blocked that move in August.

AI safety concerns are growing 

Anthropic’s IPO plans come as the company faces questions about the risks posed by powerful AI systems.

Its own research has found that more autonomous AI models can sometimes behave in unexpected and potentially harmful ways. In controlled tests, the models have been found to sabotage code, help with fraud and manipulate information.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has called on the global AI industry to slow down the release of new AI capabilities because of these concerns.

At the same time, Anthropic launched its new Opus 5.5 model last week as it tries to keep up with OpenAI’s momentum following the launch of GPT-6 Astra.

Anthropic’s planned IPO would follow SpaceX’s recent blockbuster stock market debut.

SpaceX was valued at $1.77 trillion in its IPO. Its shares jumped 19% on June 12, reaching $160 on the first day of trading. They are now trading at around $147, still above the IPO price of $135 a share.

AI and chip stocks have also fallen recently.

Anthropic’s IPO will therefore be closely watched as investors assess whether the strong interest in AI companies can continue despite growing scrutiny of their high valuations and ambitious growth plans.