Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company behind the Claude chatbot, is targeting a valuation of up to $1.02 trillion in its proposed US initial public offering (IPO), seeking to raise as much as $64.4 billion in a share sale that could become one of the largest stock market listings in history.
The company’s filing on Tuesday showed that Anthropic plans to sell 825 million shares at an indicative price range of $70 to $78 per share, valuing the AI developer at between $915 billion and $1.02 trillion.
The proposed valuation is significantly below the $1.5 trillion previously discussed with prospective investors, signalling a possible cooling in investor appetite for artificial intelligence companies following months of aggressive valuations and substantial capital inflows into the sector.
At one point this year, investors had expected Anthropic to pursue an October listing at a valuation of as much as $2 trillion. However, concerns about the sustainability of AI spending, infrastructure commitments and volatility in technology stocks have complicated the company’s fundraising ambitions.
Anthropic IPO Could Raise $90.4 billion
Beyond the public share offering, Anthropic plans to raise an additional $26 billion through a separate private placement involving cornerstone investors, including Alphabet’s Google, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices.
Other prominent investors participating in the financing arrangements include Broadcom, Micron Technology, Microsoft and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).
Combined, the public offering and private placements could generate as much as $90.4 billion as certain members of Anthropic’s board and entities affiliated with them have also indicated interest in purchasing up to $303 million worth of shares in the offering.
Anthropic’s proposed listing comes amid increasing questions about whether the enormous investments in artificial intelligence will generate sufficient returns.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq recorded its deepest single-day decline in 19 months on Thursday, wiping out trillions of dollars in market value amid concerns about increased scrutiny of AI investments and data centre construction following Democrats’ gains in the US midterm elections.
Anthropic Competes With OpenAI as IPO Market Expands
Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers who left following disagreements over governance and AI safety, Anthropic is led by Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei.
The company has since emerged as one of OpenAI’s biggest competitors in the global race to commercialise artificial intelligence. Anthropic was last valued at $965 billion in a private funding round, with prominent investors including Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks and Sequoia Capital.
Its proposed listing follows SpaceX’s $75 billion IPO in June at a valuation of nearly $1.75 trillion, excluding additional shares purchased by underwriters through the greenshoe option.
