Anthropic Races Ahead of OpenAI with Confidential IPO Filing, Setting Stage for AI Market Test

Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company behind the Claude chatbot, has stolen a march on its fiercest rival by confidentially filing for an initial public offering in the United States. The move, confirmed on Monday, surprised markets and sets up a high-stakes race with OpenAI, which had been expected to be first to tap public investors. Anthropic’s draft registration statement, submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission, gives the company the option to list once the regulator completes its review—a process that often takes months, potentially enabling a Wall Street debut by autumn. The filing came just days after a $65 billion funding round valued the San Francisco start-up at $965 billion, vaulting it past OpenAI’s $852 billion and cementing its status as the world’s most valuable AI company.

The timing underscores a broader frenzy in the sector. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is also hurtling toward a record-breaking IPO, with prospectuses targeting a valuation as high as $1.75 trillion. Amazon, an early backer of Anthropic, has seen the paper value of its $8 billion investment swell to roughly $74 billion, according to regulatory disclosures. Yet not everyone is convinced. Michael Burry, the investor famed for predicting the 2008 housing collapse, has publicly questioned whether SpaceX—and by implication other tech darlings—can justify such lofty numbers. “Nothing in that S-1 suggests it is worth $1 trillion,” he wrote of the rocket-maker’s filing, flagging the gap between hype and fundamentals.

Viewed from European capitals, the developments are being watched with a mix of awe and caution. French and German financial pages noted the jostling for bragging rights among AI firms and the regulatory scrutiny that a public listing will inevitably attract. In Moscow, analysts emphasised the contrasting financial profiles: while Anthropic, with annualised revenue of $47 billion, is said to be approaching profitability, OpenAI continues to burn cash despite a massive user base. Kommersant and Forbes Russia pointed out that the IPO sequence could define what public markets are willing to pay for pure AI exposure, with Anthropic representing a safer bet on near-term earnings and OpenAI a wager on long-term dominance.

Sam Altman, OpenAI’s chief executive, sought to downplay the head-to-head narrative. Appearing on CNBC after Anthropic’s announcement, he insisted that “going public is a financing event” and not the primary contest. However, analysts in London and Singapore note that the race to IPO carries strategic weight: the first mover can set valuation benchmarks and absorb a larger share of institutional capital. Indonesian outlets highlighted the pivotal role of investors such as Altimeter and Sequoia in enabling Anthropic’s swift ascent. For now, the number of shares and the offer price remain undefined, but the very act of filing has transformed the AI investment story from private speculation to a live public market drama. As bourses brace for what could be the most consequential technology listings since the dot-com era, the question is whether the real-world economics of AI can keep pace with the towering expectations.