Anthropic IPO: What investors should know about costs, risks after leaked prospectus

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New details on Anthropic's initial public offering have been revealed in an IPO prospectus obtained by Reuters. The AI research company behind Claude is likely to launch its initial public offering after the U.S. midterm elections in November.

Reuters reported that the company's market debut could see a valuation of more than $2 trillion, even after posting a net loss of nearly $42 billion in 2025. The prospectus also projected costs of $518 billion over the next few years as Anthropic continues to expand its infrastructure and computing resources, Reuters said.

Anthropic warns that its AI models could pose a "catastrophic or existential risk to humanity" and could potentially resist shutdown. Other risk factors cited in the prospectus include the lack of long-term client contracts, which exposes the company to income volatility, and the fact that nearly 25% of Anthropic's 2025 revenue came from just two customers.

The new details are likely to spark further interest in Anthropic's highly anticipated IPO.

1. Watch for Anthropic's public S-1 filing

The SEC will release additional financial details in the S-1 filing at least 15 days before a company's roadshow, its pitch to institutional investors. Depending on when Anthropic aims to launch its IPO, that could be weeks or months away.

Once the filing is public, investors will be able to see key financial data such as revenue, losses, growth trajectory, and risk factors.

2. Anthropic's biggest challenger is OpenAI

Anthropic released Claude in 2023, a few months after OpenAI's ChatGPT, and it has since become a widely used alternative.

OpenAI is expected to wait until early 2027 to go public and is seeking a $1.5 trillion valuation in a funding round ahead of its IPO, according to the New York Times.

The first company to list could set the tone for other AI IPOs, analysts say.

ChatGPT has maintained its lead in the space, with a 50% share of website visits among leading AI platforms in March 2026. However, that's down from 66% in July 2025, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower .

Google's Gemini had a 22% share in March, while Claude had 10% of the market.

3. Anthropic says Claude 'builds itself'

Anthropic says that AI skills are improving at an astounding rate. The company estimates that the number of tasks AI can reliably complete on its own is doubling about every four months.

The company said that Claude can now be handed an underspecified engineering problem and figure out how to solve it, matching or outperforming human cognitive abilities, according to a recent blog post entitled "When AI builds itself."

However, the company says that "if it were possible to effectively slow the development of this technology to give ourselves more time to deal with its immense implications, we think that would likely be a good thing," but also notes that it could allow others to catch up, leaving everyone less safe.

4. Anthropic CEO has called for stronger AI oversight

The prospectus leaked to Reuters said that AI models might pose a "catastrophic or existential risk to humanity" and can "resist shutdown."

CEO Dario Amodei has urged AI companies to slow the release of new capabilities until they can better address those risks.

Amodei has also issued a plea for government regulation, warning of "the very real risks" that AI poses to cybersecurity. He noted "the potential for disruption of the financial sector, critical infrastructure, and national security," and even "biological risks" are possible. He referenced the "When AI builds itself" thesis noted above as evidence.

He recommended serious and binding regulation of AI.

"I believe the best analogy, at least at the current stage of the exponential, is to cars, airplanes, or drugs — powerful technologies essential to the modern economy, but capable of killing large numbers of people if designed or operated poorly."

Amodei added that even more stringent oversight may be necessary, perhaps soon, "when the most powerful AI systems look less like airplanes or automobiles and more like weaponizable nuclear materials — a threat to humanity rather than 'just' a threat to public safety."

5. How the Anthropic IPO investor process could work

The brokerage firms that will be allocated Anthropic IPO shares for retail investors have not yet been announced. When they are, this article will be updated with that information and also include any investor requirements (such as minimum account balance) that each brokerage stipulates.

In the meantime, the process generally works as follows:

A prospectus will be made available, including a company profile and details of the stock offering.

Place a conditional offer (an "indication of interest") specifying the number of shares to be purchased (typically with a minimum of 100 shares) and the maximum price per share. This does not guarantee that shares will be allocated.

Ensure there is sufficient cash in an investment account to cover the cost of the stock purchase.

Investors typically learn if they are allocated any shares the night before or early on the morning of the IPO.

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