Anthropic, the AI company behind the Claude chatbot, confidentially filed draft registration documents (Form S-1) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering planned for 2026 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. The company has not yet set the IPO price or the number of shares to be offered. The final offering depends on market conditions and other factors [1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].

Anthropic recently closed a $65 billion Series H funding round in May 2026, which valued the company at $965 billion—surpassing OpenAI's $852 billion valuation earlier this year [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. Annual recurring revenue surged to about $47 billion, roughly five times higher than December 2025 [2, 4, 7]. Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI executives led by CEO Dario Amodei, Anthropic has grown rapidly despite challenges including a ban by the US Department of Defense from using its AI models due to contractual disputes [1, 4, 7].

Anthropic has a strategic partnership with SpaceX for AI compute infrastructure, potentially worth nearly $45 billion through 2029 [2, 6]. Its AI models, notably Claude and Claude Code, are used for coding help and cybersecurity applications [3, 4].

Anthropic joins a high-profile race to go public alongside OpenAI, which is also reportedly preparing a confidential SEC filing, and SpaceX, which plans an IPO on June 12, 2026 targeting a $75 billion raise and a $1.75 trillion valuation [1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7]. Equity capital markets expert Troy Hooper said, "Neither Anthropic nor OpenAI wants to be the last major AI pure-play to list. The first mover has a real chance to define how public markets value generative AI, setting up the yardstick that investors will use to measure everyone else" [1]. Renaissance Capital strategist Matthew Kennedy added, "Whoever goes first will be able to set the tone, and whoever goes second could look like an also-ran and be ultimately forced to compare itself with the other one in the marketing discussions" [2]. Analyst Gil Luria noted, "OpenAI and Anthropic are in a race to go public before capital runs out" [7].

Despite rapid revenue growth, concerns remain about an AI valuation bubble as these firms continue to lose money overall [7].

SpaceX is scheduled to hold its IPO on June 12, 2026, just days after Anthropic's confidential filing [6, 7].