Anthropic posts 45% revenue surge to $16.8 billion ahead of November IPO as AI stocks sell off

Anthropic’s third-quarter revenue was $16.8 billion, surging 45% from the prior quarter as the company prepares for a stock market listing expected before the end of the year.

The trajectory has been steep. First-quarter revenue stood at $4.7 billion, and second-quarter revenue reached $11.6 billion, putting the company on a sharply accelerating path. Anthropic was profitable for the second quarter in a row, and CNBC reported that the company was profitable on an adjusted basis in the third quarter and was cash-flow positive in the third quarter. According to the Financial Times, Anthropic generated $1.70 in revenue for every dollar spent on computing power during the third quarter. Investors expect Anthropic to reach $110 billion in annualized revenue by year-end, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Road to a public listing

Anthropic disclosed third-quarter financial results at a meeting with potential investors held at its headquarters in San Francisco. The IPO is reportedly slated for November. An Anthropic spokesperson declined to comment. Rival OpenAI is pursuing its own path to public markets. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said in September that his company will not go public this year. OpenAI is eyeing a stock market listing expected to value the firm at more than $1 trillion.

AI stocks under pressure

The briefing landed against a turbulent backdrop for AI-related equities. Shares in chip makers including AMD, Nvidia, and Intel fell sharply on Wednesday. The sell-off spread across Asia on Thursday morning: Softbank shares fell by more than 9%, Samsung shares fell by 9.4%, and SK Hynix shares dropped 10.8%. Trading on South Korea’s Kospi and Kosdaq was temporarily halted after falling by more than 8%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell by over 5%. Hock Tan, chief executive of US tech manufacturer Broadcom, made remarks about AI spending at a conference in Singapore on Monday, telling attendees that many investors have set “extreme expectations only to find out that it’s almost like they are in a casino.” The declines deepened after US inflation data released on Wednesday showed price rises accelerated by more than expected in September. Investors are concerned that higher inflation will mean the US Federal Reserve is more likely to put up the cost of borrowing.

Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei has called on the pace of AI development to slow down. The company opened an office in Singapore on Wednesday. Anthropic’s revenue figures, along with those of rival OpenAI, offer an important gauge of the AI industry’s growth and ability to finance the infrastructure needed to develop the technology.