Anthropic Confidentially Files IPO Prospectus With SEC

CNBC reported Monday that AI powerhouse Anthropic has confidentially submitted its IPO prospectus to the Securities and Exchange Commission, putting the company on a potential path toward one of the most closely watched public debuts in years. The filing does not commit Anthropic to a fixed timeline, but it does clear an early regulatory hurdle ahead of any formal roadshow.

Anthropic IPO Edges Ahead of OpenAI

The move positions Anthropic ahead of direct rival OpenAI, which is separately preparing its own confidential SEC submission. Elon Musk’s SpaceX, also in the AI infrastructure space, has already filed its public prospectus and is preparing for a roadshow this week with a debut targeted for next week. Under SEC rules, a company’s public prospectus must reach investors at least 15 days before a roadshow begins, giving Anthropic meaningful flexibility on timing.

In a brief statement, Anthropic said the filing “gives us the option to go public after the SEC completes its review,” adding that any offering would ultimately depend on broader market conditions.

A Rapid Rise Backed by Record Revenue

Anthropic was founded in 2021 by a cohort of researchers and executives who departed OpenAI over disagreements about the company’s strategic direction. Its Claude family of AI models now underpins a range of commercial products, most notably the Claude Code coding assistant. The company’s annualized revenue has surged to $47 billion, up sharply from $10 billion recorded just last year. Last week, Anthropic closed a fresh funding round that placed its valuation at $965 billion, surpassing OpenAI’s $852 billion mark from late March.

Pentagon Blacklist Clouds but Does Not Break Growth

Earlier this year, the Department of Defense blacklisted Anthropic’s models after contract negotiations between the two parties broke down. Defense contractors swiftly dropped the company to comply with the order. Yet the setback proved less damaging than feared. Enterprise adoption in the private sector accelerated, and Claude reached the top spot on Apple’s U.S. free app chart in late February. Anthropic subsequently sued the Trump administration seeking to reverse the blacklisting, and that case remains active. President Donald Trump told CNBC in April that a deal between the company and the Pentagon remains “possible.”

Infrastructure Deals Signal Confidence in Scale

To meet surging demand, Anthropic has been aggressively locking in compute capacity. The company struck a deal with SpaceX last month granting it access to the full compute resources at SpaceX’s Colossus 1 data center in Memphis, Tennessee. According to SpaceX’s own prospectus, Anthropic will pay $1.25 billion per month under that arrangement through May 2029, with either side able to exit with 90 days’ notice.

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