Anthropic Revenue Surges 45% to $16.8 Billion as AI Company Prepares for Potential IPO

Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company behind Claude, saw sales rise 45% to $16.8bn (£12.7bn) in the three months to the end of September, the BBC has learned.

The figures were disclosed during a briefing for prospective investors at Anthropic’s headquarters in San Francisco on Wednesday. The Claude developer is laying the groundwork for a stock market listing expected by the end of the year.

Anthropic reports rapid revenue growth

Anthropic’s revenue has increased every quarter this year, rising from $4.7bn in the first three months to $11.6bn in the second quarter.

The company also reportedly announced its second consecutive quarter of profit, although an Anthropic spokesperson declined to comment.

Anthropic’s revenue, alongside that of rival OpenAI, is an important indicator of the AI industry’s ability to fund the growth and infrastructure required to develop the technology.

AI infrastructure spending puts tech stocks under pressure

Anthropic’s strong sales growth comes as some technology stocks face pressure over concerns about the huge sums being spent on AI infrastructure, including the data centres and hardware needed to power the technology.

Shares of several US technology companies fell on Wednesday amid concerns about investment in AI. Chip makers including AMD, Nvidia and Intel also saw their shares plummet.

Asian technology shares also fall

In Asia, shares in Japanese technology investment firm SoftBank fell more than 9% on Thursday morning. South Korean semiconductor giants also declined, with Samsung falling 9.4% and SK Hynix down 10.8%.

The region’s technology-heavy indexes also fell. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 7.6%, while Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 4.8%.