Anthropic investors are pushing for a valuation of at least $2 trillion for the AI company’s planned initial public offering, which could launch as soon as October 2026, according to the Financial Times. If it materializes at that level, the listing would be the largest IPO in history, surpassing SpaceX’s $1.77 trillion debut in June 2026.
A Valuation Built on Projected Growth
Six Anthropic backers told the Financial Times that the $2 trillion figure comes from investors and bankers circling the deal rather than from Anthropic itself; senior executives have not confirmed an IPO valuation target even in private conversations, per the FT’s reporting. Anthropic was last valued at roughly $965 billion following a private round in May 2026, meaning a $2 trillion debut would roughly double that mark in under half a year.
The case rests heavily on revenue trajectory. Anthropic said in May that annualized revenue had exceeded $47 billion, and backers now expect that figure to reach between $100 billion and $120 billion by the end of 2026. “If Anthropic is growing 800 per cent a year, you’d think at the incredibly low end they would trade at 30 times [revenue],” one investor told the FT — a multiple that would actually imply a $3 trillion valuation. Investors have pointed to AI-adjacent public companies such as Palantir and Nebius, which have traded near 55 times revenue this year, as rough comparables in the absence of a direct publicly listed rival. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are reported to be leading the offering.
Risks Facing the Record Bid
Anthropic’s path to a record-setting debut carries acknowledged risks. The company’s flagship model costs more than two and a half times as much to use as OpenAI’s leading product, according to data from AI analysis firm Artificial Analysis cited in the reporting, while lower-cost Chinese open-weight models continue to close the capability gap. Revenue growth also slowed in June after the U.S. Commerce Department imposed a temporary export control on Anthropic’s top models, though investors told the FT that business rebounded afterward. Nearly $100 billion in venture capital, sovereign wealth and institutional money has flowed into Anthropic during 2026 alone, underscoring how much investor appetite already assumes continued hypergrowth.
Because the valuation target originates with investors and bankers rather than an official filing or company confirmation, it should be read as a market expectation rather than a settled figure. Anthropic has not publicly disclosed IPO plans, pricing, or timing as of this writing.
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