Anthropic's IPO filing shows soaring revenue, mounting costs, and "existential" risks
Anthropic's S-1 filing shows twelvefold revenue growth to $4.6 billion, an $8.06 billion operating loss, and $518 billion in planned infrastructure commitments.
Anthropic's S-1 filing shows 2025 revenue grew twelvefold to nearly $4.6 billion while operating loss widened from $2.98 billion to $8.06 billion, including $7.33 billion spent on compute and infrastructure. Risk factors cover nearly a third of the document and warn of existential risks and unpredictable model behavior; two customers accounted for nearly a quarter of revenue. Anthropic plans $518 billion in total cloud, compute, and infrastructure commitments, reported $11.5 billion Q2 2026 revenue, and backers target a valuation above $2 trillion, with an IPO debut likely in November.
- 2025 revenue reached nearly $4.6 billion; operating loss widened to $8.06 billion.
- Compute and infrastructure spend hit $7.33 billion; $518 billion in future commitments planned.
- Two customers generated nearly a quarter of revenue.
- Prospectus warns of existential risks; backers target a valuation above $2 trillion.
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Anthropic has opened its books in its S-1 filing. Revenue grew twelvefold, costs are climbing fast, and backers are aiming for a record valuation.
Anthropic has formally warned potential investors that its own technology could pose "existential risks to humanity," according to the Financial Times, which reviewed the prospectus, as did Reuters. The company reportedly sent the S-1 filing to a small group of partners over the past few days.
According to the FT, nearly a third of the lengthy document covers risk factors. Among them is the possibility that increasingly advanced AI models could manipulate, blackmail, or otherwise behave in unpredictable ways.
Anthropic's growth comes at an enormous price
The prospectus also shows how expensive the race to build the most capable models has become. Revenue grew twelvefold in 2025 to nearly $4.6 billion, Reuters reports, but the operating loss widened from $2.98 billion to $8.06 billion. Anthropic spent $7.33 billion on compute and infrastructure alone. That's three times the previous year's figure and more than half of total operating costs.
About $34 billion of the roughly $42 billion net loss comes from an accounting charge, according to Reuters. The charge reflects the higher estimated value of financing that could later convert into stock. It doesn't represent cash Anthropic spent running its business.
The company also depends heavily on a small number of buyers. Just two customers made up nearly a quarter of revenue in 2025, and many large customers aren't locked into long-term contracts, Anthropic warns.
Over the coming years, Anthropic plans to spend a total of $518 billion on cloud, compute, and infrastructure commitments. According to the prospectus, the company expects AI to reshape the global economy more deeply than industrialization, electricity, and the internet did. In the second quarter of 2026, Anthropic brought in $11.5 billion in revenue, the FT reports, and is on track for its second straight quarter of operating profit, though only on an adjusted basis.
Anthropic's valuation could set the bar for OpenAI and the rest of the industry
Backers think a valuation above $2 trillion is possible, according to the FT. That would be more than double the $965 billion valuation from May and would top the roughly $1.8 trillion SpaceX was worth when it went public in June.
Analysts expect the first AI company on the stock market to set valuation benchmarks for the entire industry, Reuters reports. That includes rival OpenAI, which confidentially filed for an IPO in June. Anthropic's debut likely won't happen until November, after the US midterm elections, according to Reuters sources.
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