Anthropic is preparing what could become the largest initial public offering in history, aiming to match or exceed the $75 billion raised by SpaceX earlier this year.

 

According to people familiar with the matter, the Claude developer could file its public S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as soon as the end of August 2026. Investor briefings led by Chief Financial Officer Krishna Rao have focused on the company’s explosive growth while deliberately avoiding a precise valuation figure.

 

The timing positions Anthropic to reach public markets ahead of rival OpenAI, which is now expected to list in 2027. Both companies previously filed confidentially. Anthropic’s move would mark the first major pure-play frontier AI lab to go public at this scale.

 

Revenue numbers underpinning the ambition are striking. Preliminary second-quarter 2026 revenue exceeded $11.5 billion, more than 14 times the $787 million reported in the same period a year earlier and more than double the $4.73 billion recorded in the first quarter. By the end of July the company’s annualized revenue run rate had reached approximately $65 billion.

 

That run-rate figure represents a roughly sevenfold increase from the end of 2025. Anthropic’s May 2026 Series H round raised $65 billion at a $965 billion post-money valuation, already placing it among the world’s most valuable private companies and ahead of OpenAI’s then-reported figures.

 

Internal projections shared with some investors point to $190 billion to $200 billion in annual revenue by 2028. Those forecasts are what would support a potential valuation approaching $2 trillion in the public markets, though no official target has been confirmed.

 

The losses remain substantial. Anthropic recorded a net loss of nearly $42 billion in 2025, roughly five times the $8.3 billion loss of the prior year. Adjusted operating income turned positive in the second quarter of 2026, providing a partial offset that the company is highlighting to prospective investors.

 

Banks working on the deal include Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase. A revolving credit facility is expected to close above its $10 billion target, giving Anthropic additional financial flexibility ahead of the listing.

 

The company is also considering super-voting shares that would give CEO Dario Amodei, who holds roughly 2 percent of the equity, and fellow co-founders greater long-term control. Such dual-class structures have become common among technology companies seeking to protect founder vision after going public.

 

Anthropic’s growth has been driven largely by enterprise adoption of Claude models, particularly for coding, knowledge work and agentic workflows. The company sells access across Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure, and has expanded compute agreements that include capacity from SpaceX’s Colossus data centers. That commercial link adds an unusual dimension to the IPO comparison: Anthropic would be listing at a scale similar to one of its own infrastructure suppliers.

 

Market context is favorable for a large AI offering. U.S. IPOs have already raised more than $160 billion year-to-date through mid-August, approaching the 2021 record. Demand for exposure to frontier AI models remains high among both institutional and retail investors.

 

Risks are equally clear. Rapid scaling of compute costs, regulatory scrutiny of AI safety and export controls, and intense competition from OpenAI, Google DeepMind and others could pressure margins and growth rates after the listing. Anthropic’s public-benefit corporation structure and Long-Term Benefit Trust add governance complexity that public-market investors will scrutinize.

 

If the company proceeds on the current timeline, the public filing would give outsiders their first detailed look at Anthropic’s full financials, customer concentration, model performance metrics and risk factors. A successful debut at or above SpaceX’s record would reset expectations for AI company valuations and accelerate the broader shift of frontier labs from private to public capital markets.

 

What happens next depends on market conditions, SEC review timing and Anthropic’s final decision on offering size. For now, the company is positioning itself as the first major AI model provider ready to test public-market appetite at unprecedented scale.