Anthropic Targets $1.4 Trillion Valuation in Upcoming Public Offering Amid Massive Spending Plans

AI firm Anthropic is preparing to go public at a valuation of $1.4 trillion, which could make the IPO one of the largest in history. The company plans to offer 825 million shares at $70 to $78 each to raise up to $64.4 billion. Its market capitalisation based on outstanding shares is likely to be near $1 trillion, up from a private funding valuation of $965 billion in May.

Spending Commitments

Anthropic's financial success depends on continuing to spend massive sums of money. An amended prospectus filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on November 10 reveals roughly $900 billion in spending commitments until 2045, almost entirely for computing infrastructure. The firm expects to incur half of this by 2030 and $70.7 billion in the twelve months starting from September 30. The filing also mentions another $150 to $175 billion in potential payments under arrangements without fixed dollar commitments. Meanwhile, revenue grew from $2.5 billion in the first three quarters of 2025 to $33.2 billion in the same period of 2026, though the proposed fully diluted valuation exceeds annualised sales 17 times over.

Business Complications

Anthropic's current business model charges customers based on token usage. Between January and September 2026, this accounted for 79% of total revenue. However, three main factors complicate this picture. First, models released in the last six months drove over 80% of third-quarter revenue, meaning engineers must keep building better models. Second, the company has not proven it can stay profitable after meeting its heavy infrastructure commitments. Third, neither Anthropic nor competitors like OpenAI have established a lasting competitive advantage or moat. Open-source development is making models cheaper, rivals are catching up, and efficiency gains threaten the pricing power that supports current valuations.

Context

Public stock offerings allow private companies to raise capital by selling shares to everyday and institutional investors on public exchanges. The artificial intelligence sector has seen immense financial investments driven by rapid advancements in machine learning models and heavy demand for computing power. Regulatory scrutiny and high infrastructure costs remain major talking points across the technology industry.