AI Race on Wall Street: Anthropic Confidentially Files for IPO

Billion-Dollar Investments from Tech Giants

With this move, Anthropic has overtaken its fiercest competitor, OpenAI, which is also seeking an IPO and whose IPO application is expected shortly. Gil Luria, an analyst at investment firm D.A. Davidson, told Reuters: "OpenAI and Anthropic are in a race to go public before they run out of capital."

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman dismissed the depiction of a race. In an interview with CNBC, he said, "We'll do it when we think it makes sense." At the same time, Altman admitted that it would be clearer within one to two years whether the high expenses for AI infrastructure would pay off.

Anthropic is backed by technology giants Google and Amazon. Google intends to invest up to $40 billion, and Amazon has committed $25 billion. Microsoft and Nvidia also intend to participate in Anthropic with up to $15 billion.

Conflict with the Pentagon and the Mythos Model

Anthropic recently completed a funding round of $65 billion, reaching a total valuation of around $900 billion. OpenAI was most recently valued at $730 billion. According to the New York Times, Anthropic has thus overtaken OpenAI as the world's most valuable AI startup.

Anthropic was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees. In April, the company introduced its new AI model, Mythos, which can detect and fix security vulnerabilities in software systems. However, Anthropic deemed Mythos too powerful for the general public and is only providing a pre-release version to selected IT security firms.

Earlier this year, Anthropic became involved in a conflict with the US Department of Defense. The Pentagon had demanded unlimited access to the AI model Claude and issued an ultimatum after Anthropic refused to provide its technology for mass surveillance or autonomous weapon systems. After the breakdown with Anthropic, the Pentagon apparently concluded an AI agreement with OpenAI.

An IPO of Superlatives

Following the Mythos announcement, Anthropic and the US government resumed talks about cooperation. The business information regarding the IPO will remain confidential during the ongoing SEC review.

Anthropic's IPO could become one of the three largest of the year. For comparison, the space exploration company SpaceX, which also integrates Elon Musk's AI company xAI, is targeting a valuation of up to $1.8 trillion for its IPO planned for June 12 and could raise up to $80 billion – which would be the largest IPO ever.