How Anthropic overtook OpenAI to become the AI lab to beat

Anthropic's ( ANTH.PVT ) year-over-year revenue growth is soaring, underscoring how quickly the five-year-old company has grown in popularity across the enterprise.

According to Reuters, which obtained a leaked copy of Anthropic's S-1 ahead of its public reveal, the company's 2025 revenue grew 12x, ending the year at nearly $4.6 billion. Though it's net losses have also mounted, soaring to $42 billion in 2025, the report states.

Still, the company is targeting a $2 trillion valuation via its initial public offering (IPO), expected later this fall.

Anthropic's chief rival, OpenAI ( OPAI.PVT ), meanwhile, is expected to hold off on its own much-anticipated IPO until early 2027. It's currently targeting a $1.5 trillion valuation via a pre-IPO funding round, according to the New York Times .

The two companies remained locked in a tight race for AI dominance, despite OpenAI's first-mover advantage and the fact that it's years older than Anthropic.

CEO Dario Amodei, president Daniela Amodei, and five others founded Anthropic in 2021 after leaving OpenAI over disagreements related to alignment and safety. Altman, meanwhile, co-founded OpenAI in 2015 alongside current president Greg Brockman.

OpenAI put generative AI on the map with the debut of ChatGPT in late 2022. But while OpenAI targeted the consumer space and looked to expand into areas including its now-shuttered video-generation app, Sora, Anthropic focused its efforts on the enterprise market.

Part of that included the company's Claude coding software, which became a hit among coders and made it a massive success.

Anthropic followed that up with its Claude Cowork tool, which sent shockwaves through the software-as-a-service (SaaS) market amid fears that it and other AI products would eliminate the need for their platforms.

In March, OpenAI decided to avoid so-called "side quests" and focus on its coding and enterprise tools, according to The Wall Street Journal .

That push has driven strong growth within the company's enterprise division, which now generates more revenue than its consumer offerings, CNBC reported .

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While Anthropic is still in the lead for the moment, OpenAI could take the pole position at any time, and there's no sign that the back-and-forth is slowing.

Earlier this month, Anthropic debuted its Fable 5.1 and Mythos 5.1 AI models. Just a few days later, OpenAI announced its GPT-6 Astra model, claiming it tops Anthropic's offerings in certain tasks.

And while benchmarks and model rankings are important, it will soon be up to investors to determine which AI giant is the better one.

Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley .