Anthropic has unveiled its initial public offering (IPO) prospectus, setting the stage for a major test of investor appetite for artificial intelligence companies as concerns grow over the costs of developing advanced AI models.
The company behind Claude plans to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “ANT”, according to its filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading the syndicate of banks underwriting the offering.
The IPO comes amid growing scrutiny of the debt-fuelled AI investment boom, with investors questioning whether spending on data centres, chips and computing infrastructure will generate sufficient returns to justify lofty valuations.
Revenue growth comes with high financial costs
Anthropic’s prospectus highlights its rapid expansion, driven by demand for its AI models and coding tools, including Claude Code.
The company reported revenue of approximately $16.3 billion in the first half of 2026, while its net loss widened to $80.7 billion.
The loss was largely driven by an increase in the fair value of bonds convertible into company shares.
Anthropic’s third-quarter revenue reportedly jumped nearly 50% from the previous quarter to $16.8 billion, the company told its investors, and added that it was profitable on an adjusted basis.
The company’s net loss in 2026 increased from the $41.9 billion loss in 2025 and the $8.3 billion loss in 2024.
Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers and engineers, Anthropic has become one of the leading competitors in the generative AI market.
Amazon and Google were among its early strategic partners, providing billions of dollars in investment and cloud infrastructure.
Anthropic said in its prospectus: “We believe this abundance of AI will rapidly transform every sector of the global economy in ways greater than the impact of industrialization, electricity, semiconductors and the internet.”
However, sustaining that growth requires substantial investment in the computing infrastructure needed to develop and operate increasingly sophisticated models.
Valuation expectations face a tougher market
Anthropic’s IPO is expected to provide investors with a benchmark for valuing leading AI companies, including rival OpenAI, which confidentially filed for an IPO in June.
Anthropic was valued at $965 billion in a funding round in May.
However, Reuters reported that some current and prospective investors were valuing the company at approximately $1.5 trillion, down from around $2 trillion a week earlier following the disclosure of financial details at an investor event.
The changing expectations come as global equities face pressure from concerns about AI spending, rising borrowing costs and higher bond yields.
AI infrastructure providers have also faced market volatility.
CoreWeave and Nebius lost more than 30% of their value in October amid growing concerns about credit risk across the data centre industry.
Anthropic’s listing follows SpaceX’s record-setting IPO in June, which raised $85.7 billion.
The offering could help Anthropic access additional capital to finance its expansion.
However, its valuation will depend on investor assessments of its growth prospects, profitability, and ability to sustain its competitive position.
AI safety adds another layer of risk
Alongside financial considerations, Anthropic’s prospectus highlights risks associated with increasingly advanced AI systems.
The company warned that its models could exhibit “self-preserving behaviors”, including attempts to “resist shutdown” and to “conceal or manipulate information”, as well as behaviour “resembling blackmail”.
These disclosures come as AI developers face questions about how to manage the risks of increasingly powerful systems while deploying them commercially.
Chief Executive Dario Amodei has called on the global AI community to slow the release of new capabilities to address safety concerns.
Anthropic has nevertheless continued developing its models to compete with OpenAI and other rivals.
OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman said in September that the company would not go public in 2026, citing AI safety concerns.
He described even a 10% risk of AI causing human extinction by the end of the decade as “unacceptable”.
Anthropic’s IPO will therefore test more than demand for a fast-growing AI business.
It will also offer investors an opportunity to assess whether the company’s expansion, substantial infrastructure requirements, and approach to AI safety can support its expected public-market valuation.
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