See more This is Money on Google -save us as a Preferred Source Artificial intelligence (AI) firm Anthropic expects to match or beat the scale of SpaceX's record-breaking IPO as it eyes a listing within weeks.
The Claude developer, which has already confidentially filed for a listing, is reportedly running the numbers for an IPO and targeting a valuation of at least $2trillion.
If Anthropic floats at that valuation, it would eclipse SpaceX's IPO, which raised $75billion, making it the largest first-time share sale ever. The final SpaceX figure jumped to $86.2billion with the so-called overallotment option, which is typically exercised if shares rise in early trading.
Anthropic is understood to be running the numbers, Bloomberg reported, but exact timings for the IPO remain unknown, with dates ranging from the end of August to October.
But it is on track to list ahead of rival OpenAI, which is now looking at a flotation next year.
Another blockbuster listing will be welcomed by investors looking to put their cash into AI, even as concerns over their colossal valuations mount.
Ambitious Dario Amodei is the chief executive of Anthropic
Will UK investors have access to Anthropic's IPO? #
It is not clear yet whether UK retail investors will be granted access to the Anthropic IPO, as they were with SpaceX.
The SpaceX IPO was the first ever use of the Financial Conduct Authority's Public Offer Platform (POP) regime, which came into effect in January.
It allowed over 100,000 UK investors to buy shares in Elon Musk's firm, paving the way for other US firms, such as Anthropic, to follow suit.
Once Anthropic has set a date for its IPO, trading platforms in the UK will have a clearer idea of whether there is an allocation for DIY investors.
If not, investors will need to wait until the first day of its listing, when the shares should become freely tradeable. Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, told This Is Money: 'In the meantime, investors can get some indirect exposure to the company through buying Google, Amazon or Microsoft shares, the first two of which are major investors and primary distributors for its Claude product.
'Alternatively, there are any number of AI-themed ETFs which also provide the ability for investors to ride the AI wave without specific exposure to one individual company.'
IPO race: Anthropic is on track to launch its IPO ahead of OpenAI
Is it worth investing in Anthropic? #
There are large swathes of the market that believe an AI bubble is forming, as valuations reach dizzying heights and firms' debt piles grow because of spending on data centres and chips.
Anthropic's backers have claimed the $2trillion figure, more than double the firm's valuation of $965billion in May, was justified amid strong demand for the lab’s advanced AI models and tools.
And it has high-profile backers, including Amazon, which has invested around $13billion so far with the option to commit up to $33billion.
According to documents seen by Bloomberg, Anthropic's net loss for 2025 was nearly $42billion, up from $8.3billion the previous year.
But the group told investors earlier this month that its annualised revenue run rate hit $65billion at the end of July.
AI firms like Anthropic are ploughing huge sums of money to build more advanced AI systems. And training so-called frontier models requires significant computing power.
Hunter said: 'There is little doubting the company’s extraordinary growth, with annualised revenue having surged to more than $44billion in May, as compared to $9billion just six months earlier.
'Revenue comes mainly from businesses as opposed to individual consumers, with its recent Claude Code release exceeding $1billion of revenue within six months of launch, and with the number of companies paying in excess of $1 million annually having doubled to 1000 by April.'
He added: 'Less positively, the company has explicitly stated that it does not expect to sustain profits in the second half of this year as it will be ramping up its planned infrastructure spending.
'There have also been reports of outages in this space as power bottlenecks and a strained infrastructure have weighed, let alone some tests conducted in private which have led to broader concerns on the ability to restrict AI’s burgeoning power.'
If UK investors can invest in Anthropic's IPO, they should be cautious of a first-day 'pop', before shares fall below the initial valuation. Axel Rudolph, chief technical analyst at IG, said: 'Anthropic’s debut arrives with huge expectations, but investors should remember the lesson from SpaceX.
'An explosive opening can quickly give way to reality. SpaceX’s IPO triggered an initial buying frenzy before the shares fell back below their launch price, showing how difficult it can be to sustain the euphoria around a high-profile technology listing.
DIY INVESTING PLATFORMS #
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