Around 9 AM on October 26, Anthropic unveiled one of the most eagerly awaited documents in Big Tech history, its prospectus for an initial public offering. Now that the Claude purveyor has filed its S-1 with the SEC, it’s free to begin a roadshow in 15 days, and pursue a timetable that would see its shares trading on the Nasdaq, under the symbol ANT, as early as mid-November. At an anticipated valuation in the $1.8 to $2.0 trillion range, Anthropic would rank second only to SpaceX as the largest market debut of all time.
Given its central importance both as a potential investment and bellwether for the future of AI, Wall Street research crews and everyday investors alike are carefully parsing the over 400 page document. And one big concern dwarfs all others: Can Anthropic generate revenues so gigantic that they far outpace the huge spending on compute its leaders already acknowledge is coming? Evidence that’s happening would provide much comfort before folks and funds wrestle with the next and more vexing head-spinner: Will any reasonable projections for its growth in sales and operating leverage prove great enough to make Anthropic worth anything like $2 trillion?
