Anthropic, the artificial intelligence firm that has gained notoriety for developing the Claude chatbot, has placed itself at the center of the global stock market debate by preparing a possible IPO of historic proportionsThe company, founded by former OpenAI employees and now one of the leading players in the sector, is making moves to enter public markets in the coming years.
The plans are not yet finalized, but the steps taken so far point to a its stock market debut could take place around 2026If it materializes with the figures being discussed, the operation would rank among the largest technology IPOs in history and would serve to gauge investor appetite for AI companies amidst discussions about a possible bubble in this field.
Legal preparations and contacts with investment banks
To move forward in this process, Anthropic has chosen the US firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, one of the most experienced law firms specializing in technology IPOs. This legal team had already been collaborating with the company since 2022 on significant corporate transactions, including Amazon's major investment, and in the past has advised on high-profile IPOs such as those of Google, LinkedIn, and Lyft.
In addition to the legal front, the company has initiated preliminary talks with some of the leading investment banksThe meetings, described by various sources as informal and still in an early stage, seek to explore the conditions of a possible Initial Public Offering (IPO) and to gauge which entities could become future insurers of the operation.
These efforts do not imply a final decision, but they do show that Anthropic It works internally as if it were preparing a stock market quote.In parallel, the company has strengthened its structure by incorporating profiles with direct experience in similar processes, such as former Airbnb executive Krishna Rao, who played a key role in the accommodation platform's IPO in 2020 and now serves as Anthropic's chief financial officer.
The company insists there is no firm timeline. A spokesperson has explained on several occasions that it is common for companies of this size and revenue level to take time. function practically as if they were already listed on a regulated marketMaintaining transparency and corporate governance standards typical of a listed company, although without having yet made a final decision on whether or when to take the step.
Record valuations and private funding round underway
In parallel with the stock market preparations, Anthropic is negotiating a new large private funding roundThe various reports agree that this capital raising could place the company's valuation above $300.000 billion, and even approach a range of between $300.000 billion and $350.000 billion (about €258.000 billion to €301.000 billion).
These figures represent a considerable jump compared to previous valuations. At the beginning of September, the company closed a $13.000 billion Series F round, in which it was valued at around 183.000 billion. That operation was led by ICONIQ and involved a long list of major names in institutional capital: Fidelity, Lightspeed, Altimeter, Baillie Gifford, BlackRock and Blackstone funds, Coatue, D1 Capital, General Atlantic, General Catalyst, GIC, Goldman Sachs, Insight Partners, Jane Street, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Fund, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), TPG, T. Rowe Price, WCM and XN, among others.
This investor base has been further strengthened by recent commitments from strategic partners in the technology sector. Microsoft and Nvidia announced a few weeks ago a joint investment commitment of up to $15.000 billion at Anthropic. According to figures reported by the financial press, Nvidia would contribute approximately 10.000 billion and Microsoft around 5.000 billion, although the final structure of the operation would be integrated within the aforementioned private round.
In some estimates, this influx of additional capital placed Anthropic's potential valuation close to 350.000 million, reinforcing its position as one of the most valuable players in the global generative AI ecosystem and accelerating expectations around a future IPO of historic dimensions.
In this context, the eventual IPO would also serve as most efficient mechanism for raising capital on a large scale and provide Anthropic with a currency in the form of listed shares, something key if the company decides to pursue acquisitions of a certain size or long-term corporate alliances, including possible business operations in Europe or Spain.
A business model in full expansion
Beyond the headlines about valuations, Anthropic is showing significant growth in its business. Led by its co-founder and CEO Dario AmodeiThe company estimates that it can more than double or almost triple its annualized revenue rate in the short term, reaching around $26.000 billion next year.
This progress relies especially on its penetration into the corporate marketAnthropic claims to already have more than 300.000 enterprise customers who use Claude and other in-house tools to automate tasks, develop conversational assistants, strengthen internal systems, and improve data analysis processes. For many European companies, including Spanish firms, these generative AI solutions have become an integral part of their digitalization strategies.
This growth is also occurring in a highly competitive environment, where companies like Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Alphabet's Gemini solutions are vying to lead the new wave of artificial intelligence. In this context, Anthropic's potential IPO is also interpreted as a way to consolidate their position against direct rivals and bolster its brand among large corporate clients and financial markets.
The very structure of agreements with tech giants reflects that ambition. Anthropic is backed by Amazon and Google as strategic partners, in addition to the aforementioned financial support from Microsoft and Nvidia. This network of alliances guarantees access to both cloud computing power and specialized AI chips, a critical factor in a sector where the cost of computing resources has skyrocketed and can limit the pace of innovation.
Comparison with OpenAI and the context of a possible bubble
Anthropic's move comes at the same time as that of its main rival, OpenAI reached $500.000 billionIt is also considering a potential IPO. The company behind ChatGPT was recently valued at around $500.000 billion after several employee stock buyouts and funding rounds, which briefly made it the world's most valuable startup, ahead of companies like SpaceX and ByteDance, TikTok's parent company.
OpenAI has initiated a broad Internal restructuring to improve ChatGPT's efficiency and keep pace with its competitors. At the same time, it maintains large-scale agreements with hardware and service providers such as Nvidia, AMD, and Broadcom. Although some reports indicated advanced preparations for an IPO, its CFO, Sarah Friar, has stated that an initial public offering is not among its immediate priorities.
Both the OpenAI and Anthropic cases are part of a broader discussion about whether the artificial intelligence sector is experiencing a overvaluation reminiscent of previous tech bubblesAnalysts point out that many of these companies are still posting significant losses, despite strong growth expectations, and warn of possible corrections if revenue or enterprise adoption figures do not meet forecasts.
The markets have already seen instances of punishment directed at large AI or cloud-related companies, such as Oracle or SoftBank, when their results or forecasts have not met market expectations. A potential Anthropic IPO, with a size comparable to or even larger than the biggest historical stock market debuts, It would test the extent to which investor confidence remains intact. in this new technological cycle.
An IPO that could mark a turning point
If Anthropic were to go public with valuations close to those currently being discussed, the operation would be among the largest public offerings ever recordedIn fact, analysts are already frequently comparing this potential launch to major historical milestones such as Saudi Aramco, which raised $25.600 billion in 2019; Alibaba, with $21.700 billion in 2014; SoftBank in 2018; NTT Docomo; Visa; AIA; or Facebook (now Meta) and the Italian electricity company Enel, all of which raised over $16.000 billion.
For the European and Spanish financial ecosystem, an IPO of this magnitude would have a benchmark effect. Although Anthropic's exit would foreseeably take place in a US market, the impact on global technology investment flows This would also be felt on the other side of the Atlantic. Asset managers, sovereign wealth funds, and large institutional investors with a strong presence in Europe—including some already holding stakes in Anthropic—could increase their exposure to generative AI, which in turn would give greater visibility to emerging European projects.
At the same time, the operation would serve to reinforce the regulatory debate in the European Union on the monitoring of general-purpose AI modelsA company of this size, with products widely used in European businesses, would be subject to more intense scrutiny by EU regulators on aspects such as algorithmic transparency, data handling, and potential biases in its systems.
On the corporate front, the availability of listed shares would facilitate Anthropic's ability to forge strategic alliances in various markets, including the acquisition of startups specializing in key European sectors such as manufacturing, energy, and financial services. In this way, The eventual IPO would not only have a financial interpretation, but also a geostrategic one.by influencing the global map of AI providers operating on the continent.
The combination of a potentially historic valuation, backing from giants like Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, and Google, and the rapid expansion of its corporate client base puts Anthropic in a unique position: the company has become one of the clearest barometers for measuring How far does the market's enthusiasm for generative artificial intelligence go—and what are its limits?What happens with its IPO, if it is ultimately confirmed and under what conditions, will be a key indicator for investors, regulators, and European companies that are betting heavily on this technology.