Anthropic’s IPO marks the first major test of the valuation of the AI ​​boom

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This week is dominated by the hype surrounding the highly anticipated IPOs of SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI.

When Elon Musk’s SpaceX priced its IPO at $135 a share, giving the company a record valuation of 1.77 trillion, investors were left with one important question: Was it worth it?

The same question now hangs over Anthropic and OpenAI.

First blood in Anthropic. In the mad race to become the world’s first AI lab, the company took a big step this week in listing bitter rival OpenAI on the public market.

Anthropic is likely looking to take advantage of the huge momentum seen in recent months. It reached a valuation of $965 billion and reported total revenue of $47 billion in late May.

The company’s confidential filing of its IPO prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday ended a surprising few months for Anthropic, following a public spat with the US Department of Defense in February.

The listing, which coincides with OpenAI’s eventual IPO, will test the appetite for pure-play frontier AI companies – a category of businesses that have so far avoided the cold light of the public markets.

“Filing the private S-1 starts the clock on what will be the most scrutinized public offering in technology history,” said Harrison Rolfes, an analyst at PitchBook. But, he added that the number that determines everything will not be the valuation of $965 billion or the average revenue of $47 billion – but the bigger margin.

That figure is very important because it refers to the percentage of revenue left after paying the costs of providing AI services – which are very high.

“No one outside of Anthropic has ever seen [gross margin]and it will confirm or destroy the whole story that private markets have been pricing for three years,” said Rolfes.

Supporting the high valuation is unprecedented Anthropic growth, Gil Luria, head of technology research at DA Davidson, told CNBC. He added that the company “seems to have a lead” in the market for boundary AI models, too.

But several well-funded rivals vying for the same market — including the likes of Google, Meta, OpenAI and SpaceX — could erode that lead, Luria said. “Most of their current use is experimental and experimental and may not be sustainable.”

Either way, the filing is expected to have far-reaching implications beyond Anthropic.

“That exposure will not only cost independent competitors,” said Eric Goodness, VP analyst at Gartner, “but also provide insight to every business trying to value and price future intellectual property costs in their company.”

Anthropic’s offering, along with SpaceX’s, at $1.77 trillion, will be the largest amount of money ever brought to the market at one time, Rolfes said.

“The 2026 window could be the most important IPO cycle since the dot-com era or the most expensive lesson in comparative fundamentals the public markets have ever taught.”

The European Commission on Wednesday proposed a number of measures aimed at strengthening domestic chips, AI and cloud services as the bloc strives to improve sovereignty amid heavy reliance on products and services from the US and China.

Uber is cutting 23% of the jobs in its human resources division as it aims to reverse operations under the direction of new president Jill Hazelbaker.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX plans to market its IPO at a fixed price of $135 per share, for a value of $1.77 trillion, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.

Anthropic on Tuesday said another 150 partners will gain access to Mythos, its powerful AI model has proven its ability to detect software vulnerabilities.

Fintech startup Ramp sees business growth as companies turn to their software to help them capitalize on AI. It is now worth $44 billion.

BroadcomThe stock fell on Thursday after it posted weaker-than-expected second-quarter earnings on Wednesday after the bell. Investors were expecting a strong AI forecast.

The company, which designs and manufactures customized AI chips for other technology names, led a broader sell-off as investors flocked to the semiconductor space.