Anthropic is pressing on with its IPO in spite of increasing concerns over the durability of the AI trade.
The AI giant is coming to market at the lower end of expectations
The IPO is happening amid increasing nervousness around AI investment
Any cancellation of the IPO would have been destabilising for markets
Anthropic is ploughing ahead with its trillion-dollar IPO in spite of the wobble in the AI trade. The AI giant is coming to market at the lower end of expectations – US$1.4 trillion versus the US$2 trillion price tag previously mooted. However, it could still be the largest-ever equity offering to hit the market.
The UK investment platforms are supporting the launch, offering applications for shares ahead of the 18 November deadline. Investors may already have exposure through investment trusts such as Scottish Mortgage, Baillie Gifford US Growth, the Schiehallion Fund or RIT. HarbourVest Global Private Equity and Pantheon International also have exposure.
The IPO is happening amid increasing nervousness around AI investment. The Democrat victory briefly created a panic about the data centre build-out necessary to support AI. Investors appear to have subsequently decided that this is not an issue, but it is difficult to argue that the problem has gone away.
There is no doubt that if the IPO hadn’t gone ahead, it would have been significantly destabilising for the AI trade and therefore for broader financial markets. Anthropic is the flagship AI company. Its main product – Claude – has threatened to disrupt industries as diverse as software, financial advice and law. Anthropic saw sales growth of over 1,000% in 2025, even if overall sales remain relatively small at US$4.5bn. For context, BP has annual sales of US$192.5bn.
Anthropic has a healthy balance sheet, with over US$140bn in cash. its annual revenue run rate passed US$65bn by the end of July, and the company is forecast to hit revenues of US$190bn to US$200bn by 2028. The company has proof of concept. Anthropic’s Claude models are already in use by many businesses. The company has a strong retention rate, suggesting businesses are finding Claude sufficiently useful to increase their usage.
That said, there are still vulnerabilities. It has huge fixed contracts with the hyperscalers. If AI demand starts to flag, it could find itself paying for compute it can’t use. Equally, although Anthropic has styled itself as a responsible manufacturer of AI, it may still be caught up in widespread public opprobrium for the new technology.
Nevertheless, it is likely to be a seismic and disruptive force in markets. It will further increase market concentration on a single sector and a single theme. The IPO appears to have garnered huge interest already, with many of its technology peers agreeing to buy the stock. It looks set to have momentum in the short term, although more questions may be asked in the long term.
