Anthropic is reportedly targeting mid-November for its IPO – plowing ahead despite a warning its technology could pose “existential risks to humanity”.
The AI giant headed by CEO Dario Amodei could begin formal marketing for the IPO by as soon as the week of Nov. 9, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter. That would put Anthropic on track to start public trading before Thanksgiving.
Internal talks about the IPO are still ongoing and subject to change, but Anthropic is expected to go public no later than the end of this year, sources told the outlet.
Reuters had earlier reported that Anthropic, known for its Claude chatbot, was likely to hold its IPO after the midterm elections, which take place on Nov. 3.
Anthropic is expected to draw a valuation of more than $2 trillion in the IPO, which would establish Amodei’s firm as one of the world’s most valuable companies.
That’s despite the fact that Anthropic detailed some eye-popping financials – and AI doomsday warnings – in its S-1 prospectus filing, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters earlier this week.
The Calif.-based firm said it plans to spend $518 billion on cloud, computing and infrastructure obligations in coming years. For 2025, the company lost more than $8 billion on an operating basis, as well as a net loss of $42 billion.
Anthropic’s revenue in 2025 hit nearly $4.6 billion – a 12-fold increase over the previous year, according to the prospectus.
Anthropic spent a good chunk of the document discussing what it described as “existential risks to humanity” associated with its most advanced products.
The prospectus acknowledged that its models could show “self-preserving behaviors,” including efforts to “resist shutdown” by humans, “conceal or manipulate information” and engage in behavior “resembling blackmail.”
Earlier this month, Amodei publicly called for AI firms to “pace the frontier,” or slow down development to ensure it could be done safely. Part of his plan called for embedding third-party watchdogs inside major AI firms.
Anthropic is set to beat rival OpenAI to public markets. The ChatGPT maker, led by CEO Sam Altman, was initially pushing for an IPO this year but has since postponed those plans.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which includes his AI firm xAI, went public in June and raised a record-setting $75 billion.