Anthropic is preparing for what could become one of the biggest IPOs in history, with the company reportedly targeting a share sale that could match or even surpass SpaceX’s record-setting debut.
If that happens, this would be more than another blockbuster listing. It would be a clear sign of just how quickly AI has changed the scale of technology investing.
A potential IPO on a different scale
Anthropic is considering an IPO that could raise at least $75 billion, matching the initial size of SpaceX’s record-setting offering. SpaceX ultimately raised $86.2 billion after its overallotment option was exercised.
Anthropic is reportedly preparing to file publicly as soon as the end of August, although the size and timing of the offering are still being discussed and could change.
The company has already established itself as one of the most valuable private technology companies in the world. In May, Anthropic raised $65 billion at a valuation of $965 billion.
That puts the company in a very different league from the typical venture-backed technology company approaching an IPO.
The numbers behind the excitement
Anthropic’s growth has been extraordinary.
The company reported preliminary second-quarter revenue of more than $11.5 billion, compared with just $787 million in the same period a year earlier.
Its annualized revenue run rate reached $65 billion by the end of July.
Those numbers help explain why investors are willing to consider such a massive IPO. Anthropic is no longer being valued purely on the promise of future AI adoption. Investors are looking at a business that is already generating billions of dollars in revenue and growing rapidly.
But there is another number that deserves just as much attention.
Anthropic recorded a net loss of almost $42 billion in 2025, up from roughly $8.3 billion the previous year.
That highlights the unusual economics of frontier AI.
AI is generating huge revenue, but it is also extremely expensive
Building advanced AI models requires enormous amounts of computing power.
Training and running these systems means spending heavily on chips, data centers, electricity and cloud infrastructure. Anthropic has already entered into a computing agreement with SpaceX that could be worth tens of billions of dollars over the next three years.
This creates an interesting dynamic for investors.
On one side, AI companies are producing revenue at a pace that would have been difficult to imagine just a few years ago.
On the other, the cost of supporting that growth is also enormous.
The question for public-market investors will be whether revenue growth can eventually outpace the cost of building and operating increasingly powerful AI systems.
Anthropic is moving ahead of OpenAI
Anthropic could also become the first of the two major AI rivals to reach the public markets.
The company is reportedly preparing for a listing as early as this year, while OpenAI is now looking at a potential IPO in 2027.
That timing could make Anthropic’s debut an important test for the broader AI investment story.
If investors enthusiastically absorb a massive Anthropic offering, it could give other AI companies more confidence to approach the public markets.
If investors push back on the valuation or the capital requirements, it could force a more careful conversation around how much investors are willing to pay for AI growth.
Control will be another issue to watch
Anthropic is also considering a structure involving super-voting shares.
That could give CEO Dario Amodei and the company’s co-founders greater control even after the company becomes publicly traded.
This is not unusual among technology companies, particularly founder-led businesses. But with a company potentially approaching a trillion-dollar valuation and raising tens of billions of dollars from public investors, governance will receive plenty of attention.
Investors will have to weigh the appeal of Anthropic’s growth against how much control they are willing to give up.
A massive year for US IPOs
Anthropic’s potential listing comes during an already strong year for the US IPO market.
Companies had raised $160.6 billion through August 19, according to Bloomberg data, putting 2026 within striking distance of the previous annual record of $195.2 billion set in 2021.
A first-time share sale of Anthropic’s proposed size could easily push 2026 into record territory.
It would also add to a year that has already produced some of the largest listings ever, including South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix’s $26.5 billion American depositary receipt offering.
The bigger picture
Anthropic’s potential IPO says something important about where technology markets are heading.
The biggest AI companies are no longer raising relatively modest amounts to fund experimentation. They are raising tens of billions of dollars to build the infrastructure needed to compete at the frontier of AI.
That changes the nature of the investment opportunity.
For investors, the story is no longer simply about which company has the best AI model. It is increasingly about who can fund the computing, infrastructure and talent required to stay ahead, and whether the revenue generated from AI can justify those enormous investments.
Anthropic’s IPO could become one of the clearest tests yet of how much public-market investors are willing to pay for that future.
And if the company does match or surpass SpaceX’s record, it would send a powerful message: the AI investment boom is entering a scale that the technology industry has rarely seen before.