Anthropic eyes $2tr-plus valuation in fall IPO, investors say

Some investors expect Anthropic, which is pursuing an initial public offering in October, to be valued at more than $2 trillion when it goes public.

The Financial Times reported Thursday that six investors in the company believe Anthropic's surging sales could earn it a valuation more than double its current level at the time of its IPO.

The investors project that Anthropic's annualized sales will reach $100 billion to $120 billion by year-end — more than 10 times the figure estimated at the start of the year. One investor told the Financial Times that if Anthropic is growing at 800 percent annually, "it should trade at no less than 30 times revenue, which makes it a $3 trillion company."

Anthropic, the maker of the Claude AI model, has no publicly listed domestic peer in the United States to serve as a benchmark. The closest comparable companies — AI defense firm Palantir and AI infrastructure and cloud specialist Nebius — traded at roughly 55 times their annual sales this year.

Anthropic filed listing documents with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in June and is now subject to a quiet period that restricts disclosure of financial results. While its current sales figures cannot be confirmed, the company surpassed $47 billion in annualized revenue in May. As a private company, Anthropic receives valuations through investment rounds; this year it overtook OpenAI for the first time, earning a valuation of $965 billion.

Anthropic faces significant risks, including friction with the Donald Trump administration over the scope and manner of AI use. The US Defense Department has also designated Anthropic as a "supply chain risk" — an extraordinarily unusual step for an administration to take against a domestic company — and Anthropic has filed a lawsuit challenging the designation.

How the ongoing debate over AI model pricing will affect Anthropic's sales is another open question. Anthropic's flagship model costs more than 2.5 times as much to use as OpenAI's leading model. As Chinese AI models have improved sharply in recent months, some corporate customers have begun shifting toward cheaper alternatives.

One Anthropic investor expressed confidence nonetheless. "It's easy to find fault, but this company still holds the No. 1 position in terms of capability, positioning and being what people want to be exposed to," the investor said.