Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company behind the Claude chatbot, has filed a confidential IPO registration with the SEC. The move positions the five-year-old startup - now valued at $965 billion - to potentially go public ahead of rivals OpenAI and SpaceX.
Anthropic was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI leaders. The company has raised $65 billion in private funding and currently generates $47 billion in annualized revenue. Its latest AI model, Claude Opus 4.8, was launched last week.
University of Notre Dame law professor Patrick Corrigan noted the timing was surprising, as many expected OpenAI to go public first. “There seems to be a bit of a first-mover’s advantage here,” he said.
The global IPO market is showing renewed strength. KPMG reports a 45% increase in funds raised in Q1 2026 versus the same period last year, driven largely by AI and space technology companies.
Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives called Anthropic’s filing “an opening of the floodgates for the IPO market.” OpenAI was last valued at $852 billion in March, while SpaceX reached a $1.25 trillion valuation after merging with xAI in February.
The IPO will test investor concerns about an AI bubble, as none of the major AI players have yet demonstrated sustained profitability. However, IDC analyst Tim Law believes the fundamentals are strong. “This funding round may be the thing that enables us to complete the final sprint toward AGI,” he said.