Anthropic, the maker of the Claude AI assistant and one of the fastest-growing companies in the generative-AI sector, has begun early work on a potential initial public offering that could arrive as soon as 2026, reports FT. This, if successful, could place it ahead of OpenAI in the race to public market debut, especially in times when there’s already growing concerns over an ‘AI bubble’.
The move also positions the San Francisco–based startup for what could be one of the largest tech listings of the decade, and puts it on a collision course with its principal rival, OpenAI, which is weighing its own path to public markets. The company has tapped Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati — a law firm long associated with milestone Silicon Valley listings — to advise on the early stages of IPO preparation.
This development comes at a time when investor demand in the firm has accelerated sharply, and an FT report states that Anthropic is in the process of raising a new private round that could value the company at north of $300 billion. That round includes major commitments from Microsoft and Nvidia, whose combined investment is expected to exceed $15 billion. The company’s valuation has more than doubled within months, fueled by a surge in enterprise adoption of Claude, a fast-scaling developer tools business, and a lucrative compute-purchase agreement with Microsoft. As part of its expanded partnership, Anthropic has committed tens of billions of dollars to Azure capacity over the coming years, a bet that its demand curve will justify the massive infrastructure outlay.
The company has also completed its maiden acquisition — the developer-tools firm Bun — earlier this week. A listing in 2026 would put Anthropic on a trajectory to potentially beat OpenAI to Wall Street. The ChatGPT-maker has explored a public listing of its own, though its CFO recently suggested the company is not targeting the near term. OpenAI’s internal discussions have centered on a valuation that could reach $1 trillion, but timing remains uncertain.
For Anthropic, going public early offers clear advantages. For one, it will establish Anthropic as a major public company at a time when the generative AI market is fiercely competitive and rapidly evolving. By accessing public capital markets early, the firm will also be able to secure a more stable and diversified funding base. This financial durability will also enable the company to invest heavily not only in infrastructure but also in research, talent acquisition, and additional acquisitions, thereby accelerating innovation and scaling more aggressively than private competitors who depend primarily on venture capital. Internally, Anthropic is projecting an aggressive expansion in commercial demand. Earlier this year, the company expects its annualized revenue run-rate to more than double — and potentially nearly triple — to around $26 billion next year.
This comes at a time when Anthropic has surged ahead of OpenAI in enterprise AI adoption, capturing 32% market share by usage compared to OpenAI’s 25% and Google’s 20%, driven by Claude’s strengths in coding (42% share) and enterprise preferences for closed models. This reversal from OpenAI’s 50% dominance in 2023 stems from Claude 3.5 Sonnet and 3.7 releases, attracting commercial clients in coding and compliance-heavy sectors, while OpenAI focuses more on consumer prompts exceeding 2.5 billion daily. Anthropic projects profitability by 2028, faster than OpenAI, bolstered by booming developer tools and API revenue potentially doubling OpenAI’s in 2025, alongside strategic acquisitions like Bun.
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