Anthropic May IPO as Early as October, Potentially Beating OpenAI to Market
Miles Bennett
Anthropic is pushing ahead with an IPO that could close as early as October, according to Bloomberg, putting it on track to list before rival OpenAI. Valued at $965 billion, the Claude-maker would become the first top-tier generative-AI company to face public-market pricing.
Who wins the race to list?
Anthropic's underwriters — Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan — have begun arranging meetings between management and prospective investors. An October listing is the earliest target.
OpenAI's IPO timeline has slipped repeatedly — Bloomberg previously reported it was pushed from fall 2026 to 2027.
This means → Anthropic is positioned to become the first major AI company priced by public markets, claiming the "first AI mega-IPO" narrative.
Both companies have filed confidentially, but Anthropic's deal terms and timing may still shift.
What supports a $965 billion valuation?
After its latest funding round in May, Anthropic's valuation reached $965 billion, surpassing OpenAI for the first time and ranking among the world's most valuable private tech companies.
The core growth engine is enterprise adoption of its Claude models, especially AI tools for software development and code generation, which have become a major revenue driver.
In plain terms = this isn't a story-driven fundraise — enterprise customers are paying real money to use Claude for coding, and that revenue underwrites the valuation.
What risk should investors press hardest on?
The Trump administration briefly restricted overseas access to two of Anthropic's core models, showing that policy intervention is not hypothetical.
Anthropic has also sued the U.S. Department of Defense over being placed on a supply-chain risk entity list, highlighting ongoing friction with government agencies.
This means → during the roadshow, regulatory risk and geopolitics will be the questions investors push hardest on — whether the high-growth narrative holds depends on how large the policy variable turns out to be.
Multiple AI giants listing at once — what changes?
Beyond Anthropic, Chinese AI company DeepSeek is also advancing IPO plans and may file within the year, according to Bloomberg.
This reflects a broader shift: top AI companies are collectively moving into an acceleration phase for capital-market activity — no longer just raising private rounds, but submitting to public-market scrutiny.
In plain terms = the second half of 2025 could see several AI giants attempting IPOs in parallel, giving the market its first real chance to vote — with share prices — on what AI is actually worth.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.