Anthropic ‘gearing up to launch one of the largest IPOs ever as AI race with OpenAI intensifies’
Anthropic is reportedly preparing for a massive IPO as early as next year, setting up a high-stakes race with OpenAI for the first major public listing among top AI model makers.
Anthropic is reportedly preparing for a potential public debut next year, positioning the Claude developer for what could be one of the largest IPOs in history as competition with OpenAI intensifies.
According to the Financial Times, the AI company has begun early discussions with investment banks and tapped Silicon Valley law firm Wilson Sonsini, the same group behind Google and LinkedIn’s IPOs, as it explores a path to the public markets.
Sources told the outlet that Anthropic is simultaneously pursuing a private funding round that could value the company above $300 billion, buoyed by a combined $15 billion commitment from Microsoft and Nvidia.
Other recent estimates place its valuation even higher, around $350 billion, following another wave of mega-investments from the two tech giants.
If Anthropic does push ahead, the listing would become a defining moment in the escalating AI arms race, and could beat OpenAI to the punch.
While OpenAI recently closed a $6.6 billion share sale valuing the company at $500 billion, its CFO has insisted that no IPO is planned in the near term.
That leaves an opening for Anthropic to “seize the initiative,” as one FT source put it, at a moment when investors are increasingly wary of a potential AI bubble but still hungry for exposure to top-tier model makers.
Anthropic, founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers, has been scaling aggressively to match its rival.
The company recently announced a $50 billion build-out of AI infrastructure across Texas and New York and is tripling its global workforce.
Anthropic also hired former Airbnb executive Krishna Rao, a key figure in Airbnb’s blockbuster 2020 IPO, to help prepare internally for a listing.
An Anthropic spokesperson cautioned that no decision has been made, saying only that companies of its size “operate as if they are publicly traded”.
