Anthropic Preparing Supercharged IPO, Scale Could Surpass SpaceX

Bloomberg reported on Thursday (the 20th), citing知情人士, that Anthropic, the developer of the AI assistant Claude, is preparing for an exceptionally large initial public offering (IPO). The fundraising target could match or even exceed the record set by SpaceX (SPCX-US), with the company potentially filing its listing documents as early as the end of August.

Anthropic is currently still evaluating data, and details such as the IPO size have not been finalized and could still change. Krishna Rao, the company’s Chief Financial Officer, recently hosted an investor briefing but did not disclose potential valuation figures for the public listing.

As of press time, Anthropic had not responded to requests for comment.

Challenging SpaceX's Fundraising Record

According to compiled data, Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite company SpaceX raised $75 billion during its IPO, setting the record for the largest IPO in history. Including the over-allotment option (greenshoe), which is typically exercised when share prices rise shortly after listing, the final amount raised increased to $86.2 billion.

If Anthropic raises more than SpaceX, 2026 will easily become the highest-grossing year for IPO fundraising in U.S. history.

As of August 19, U.S. companies going public this year have collectively raised $160.6 billion, gradually approaching the 2021 record of $195.2 billion.

Other major listings this year include South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix. The company raised $26.5 billion through its initial American Depositary Receipt (ADR) offering, making it one of the largest listings in history.

Valuation Surpasses OpenAI Amid Rapid Revenue Growth

Founded five years ago, Anthropic raised $6.5 billion in May 2025, achieving a valuation of $96.5 billion—surpassing rival OpenAI. OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, raised $12.2 billion in March 2025, at which time its valuation stood at $85.2 billion.

Anthropic’s revenue is also soaring amid rising demand for AI. Preliminary second-quarter revenue exceeded $11.5 billion, far surpassing the $787 million recorded in the same period of 2025; by the end of July, its annualized revenue run rate had reached $65 billion.

However, developing cutting-edge AI systems still requires massive investment. According to documents seen by Bloomberg, Anthropic’s net loss in 2025 approached $4.2 billion—about five times the previous year’s $830 million—though adjusted operating profit turned positive in the second quarter of this year.

Soaring Compute Costs Drive Capital Needs

Training frontier AI models demands enormous computational power. Agreements Anthropic has signed with data center operators include a contract to purchase computing resources from SpaceX, potentially worth tens of billions of dollars over the next three years.

To strengthen pre-IPO financial readiness, Anthropic is finalizing a revolving credit facility, with the final size expected to exceed the initially targeted $10 billion.

Anthropic has already partnered with Morgan Stanley (MS-US), Goldman Sachs (GS-US), and JPMorgan Chase (JPM-US) to prepare for the IPO, and may add other underwriting banks in the future.

IPO Timeline Likely Ahead of OpenAI

Both Anthropic and OpenAI have secretly filed IPO applications, but Anthropic is expected to go public first. OpenAI, meanwhile, is reportedly considering a 2027 listing.

Anthropic is also considering adopting “super-voting shares,” allowing CEO Dario Amodei, who holds about 2% of shares, and other co-founders to maintain greater control after the company goes public.

SpaceX (SPCX-US) opened lower on Thursday and continued to decline, briefly dropping to $130.39 intraday. It closed sharply down 4.05% at $134.00 per share, reducing its market value to approximately $1.82 trillion. The stock is now down about 40.6% from its 52-week high of $225.64, but remains about 27.8% above its 52-week low of $104.83.

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