Artificial intelligence company Anthropic, the developer of the Claude chatbot, is planning to raise as much as $64 billion through an initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York, in what could become one of the biggest stock market listings.
The company has proposed an IPO price range of $70 to $78 per share, with the offering expected to take place this month. At the proposed price, Anthropic could command a market valuation of between $1.1 trillion and $1.3 trillion.
However, the expected valuation is lower than the $2 trillion figure that some market analysts had reportedly anticipated just weeks earlier.
Anthropic’s planned listing comes at a challenging time for the artificial intelligence sector, with investors increasingly questioning the scale of spending on AI development and whether companies will generate sufficient returns from their investments.
Technology stocks have also faced pressure amid concerns that political developments in the United States could affect the pace of AI expansion and investment in data centres.
Despite the uncertainty, Anthropic has reported a sharp increase in revenue. Its earnings for the six months ending June stood at $16.2 billion, compared with $1.1 billion during the corresponding period last year.
However, the company’s financial performance also showed mounting losses. Its pre-tax loss widened to $80.7 billion from $12.9 billion over the same period.
Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index, described Anthropic’s fundraising target as an ambitious move given the recent volatility in technology stocks and growing investor concerns surrounding the AI industry.
The proposed IPO will be closely watched as a measure of investor appetite for major AI companies, particularly as the sector faces questions over profitability, infrastructure costs and the long-term commercial potential of artificial intelligence.
