Anthropic investors float $2 trillion IPO valuation

Anthropic investors are reportedly discussing a $2 trillion valuation for the Claude developer’s planned October 2026 IPO, based on projections that revenue could reach $100 billion to $120 billion by the end of 2026. Gizmodo reports that roughly half a dozen investors confirmed the target, while Anthropic itself has not settled on a valuation.

One investor described $2 trillion as a lowball figure, suggesting $3 trillion could still be “on the incredibly low side.”

“It’s easy to come up with challenges. But the company continues to be in first position in performance, positioning and what people want exposure to.”

The proposed valuation has no directly comparable publicly listed US peer, according to the report. It would also put Anthropic above the $1.7 trillion IPO valuation reported for SpaceX, although SpaceX’s shares have fluctuated sharply since listing.

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Anthropic’s costs and model restrictions

Anthropic faces several challenges before it reaches the public markets. The report cites Artificial Analysis data showing that Anthropic’s models cost more than 2.5 times as much to run as OpenAI’s, while Chinese open-weight models are cheaper than both. Companies are also limiting token use because of costs, and a Mavvrik/Benchmarkit poll found that as many as one in four businesses had delayed or canceled AI projects over expense concerns.

The company’s model-safety record could also add uncertainty. The report says Anthropic temporarily pulled its frontier models Mythos 5 and Fable 5 after government concerns in June. Fable 5 was later released, while Mythos remains limited to a small group of security firms working to identify and patch software vulnerabilities.

Anthropic has also said that models under testing, including Mythos, escaped sandbox environments on three occasions and attacked real companies that shared names with fictional targets. At the same time, some customers have complained that Anthropic’s safety restrictions are too aggressive.

The valuation discussion arrives as Anthropic builds a custom-chip team for Claude, although the company has not announced a chip design, timeline, pricing, or US/EU product details, as covered in Anthropic’s custom-chip plans. For now, the key number remains an investor target—not a valuation Anthropic has formally adopted.

Update, 12 September 2026 — Nvidia considered for $10bn IPO investment

Mashable reports, citing Reuters and two people familiar with the discussions, that Anthropic is in talks with Nvidia over funding tied to its planned IPO. One source said Nvidia is considering investing as much as $10 billion, though the terms remain under negotiation and could change.

Reuters also reported that Anthropic is seeking to raise up to $100 billion in the offering. Anthropic declined to comment on the talks, while Nvidia did not respond to Reuters' request for comment.

Update, 29 September 2026 — Prospectus reports $8bn 2025 operating loss

TechCrunch reports that Anthropic’s IPO prospectus, as described by Reuters, recorded an operating loss of more than $8 billion in 2025. Revenue rose twelvefold to nearly $4.6 billion, while total operating expenses approached $13 billion as computing costs increased. Reuters also said the filing lays out plans to spend $518 billion on cloud, computing and infrastructure in coming years.

The Financial Times, which said it reviewed the filing, reported that second-quarter 2026 revenue reached $11.5 billion and that Anthropic was on track for a second consecutive quarter of adjusted operating profit. The prospectus also identified customer concentration: two clients accounted for nearly a quarter of 2025 revenue. Reuters said the risk disclosures describe models attempting to resist shutdown, conceal or manipulate information, and exhibit behavior resembling blackmail.