NEW YORK, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic publicly filed its prospectus for an initial public offering (IPO) on Monday, which could become the largest stock market debut in history.
The filing, a registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, did not set the number of shares to be sold or a price range. Anthropic intends to list its Class A common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol ANT, according to a release on the company's website.
Both the company and existing shareholders will sell shares, with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley named first among 24 underwriters. The company is expected to begin trading in mid-November, and backers hope for a valuation of up to 2 trillion U.S. dollars, though some investors have weighed a figure closer to 1.5 trillion dollars, according to Reuters.
The prospectus offers the first detailed look at the finances of the developer of the Claude AI models. Revenues reached 16.29 billion dollars in the first half of 2026, up from 1.16 billion dollars year on year, after growing from 41 million dollars in 2023 to 386 million dollars in 2024 and 4.59 billion dollars in 2025. Revenues in the second quarter alone were 11.56 billion dollars, and the company reported its first quarterly operating profit of 974 million dollars.
The headline losses are far larger, but most stem from accounting charges rather than cash spending. Anthropic recorded a net loss of 80.7 billion dollars in the first half of 2026, of which 72.4 billion dollars came from changes in the fair value of convertible notes and other instruments as the company's own valuation climbed. Its operating loss for the period was 693 million dollars, while operating cash flow turned positive at 3.93 billion dollars. Cash and short-term investments totaled 131.7 billion dollars at June 30.
The filing warns that this rapid pace may not last. "We cannot assure you [revenue] will continue to grow at all," the company said in the prospectus, which also notes it is on track for a second consecutive quarter of adjusted operating profit.
Spending on computing power remains the central cost. Anthropic spent nearly 9 billion dollars on computing resources and infrastructure in the first half of 2026, and has committed to 518 billion dollars in future infrastructure spending. It has agreed to spend at least 110 billion dollars with Amazon through April 2036 and at least 114.5 billion dollars with Google through July 2033. Amazon holds 6.2 billion dollars of notes that convert into non-voting stock, capped at 12 percent of the company.
By Sept. 30, more than 1,900 customers generated at least 1 million dollars each in trailing annual revenue, and more than 11,900 generated at least 100,000 dollars, up from 950 a year earlier. Existing customers spend roughly nine times what they did a year ago, but two unnamed customers accounted for about 23 percent of revenues in the first half of 2026.
Public investors will be able to buy the shares but will not steer the company. A single Class F share held by the seven co-founders carries 50.1 percent of every stockholder vote, and a trust will elect a majority of the board. A Public Benefit Fund will hold 5 percent of the company in non-voting shares, and each co-founder has pledged to give 80 percent of their personal Anthropic equity to philanthropic causes.
The prospectus devotes sections to risk factors, including warnings that advanced AI could pose "catastrophic or existential risks to humanity" and that liability from extreme harm could exceed what any insurer can cover.
Anthropic raised 65 billion dollars in May at a 965-billion-dollar valuation. A debut above 2 trillion dollars would surpass SpaceX's 1.77-trillion-dollar listing in June, the current record. Reuters has reported Anthropic's third-quarter revenue of 16.8 billion dollars and forward projections pointing to revenue of about 190 billion to 200 billion dollars in 2028. ■