The reported Nasdaq selection marks another significant win for the technology-focused exchange after SpaceX’s record-setting public debut earlier this year. Anthropic’s potential offering would also arrive at a sensitive moment for the AI industry, with investors reassessing whether rapid advances in AI capabilities can continue at the pace reflected in current market valuations.
Anthropic Targets Nasdaq for Potential IPO
Anthropic has selected Nasdaq as the venue for its potential initial public offering, according to Reuters, citing a Business Insider report based on a person familiar with the company’s plans. The company is targeting an October 2026 listing, although neither the timing nor the final valuation has been formally confirmed.
Anthropic has selected Nasdaq for its potential IPO, with an October 2026 listing reportedly under consideration. Source: Reuters via X
The Claude developer’s most recent confirmed private valuation was about $965 billion following a $65 billion funding round in May. However, subsequent secondary-market transactions and investor expectations have pushed estimates higher. Reports now place the potential IPO valuation near $2 trillion, although the final figure will depend on the company’s public filing, investor demand, and pricing discussions.
A valuation at that level would put Anthropic above SpaceX’s reported $1.75 trillion valuation at its Nasdaq listing earlier this year. That would make the Anthropic IPO one of the largest public offerings ever and further strengthen Nasdaq’s position in attracting high-profile technology companies.
The exchange decision is strategically important for Nasdaq, which has been competing with the New York Stock Exchange to attract the next generation of large technology and AI listings. Anthropic’s potential debut would give Nasdaq another exceptionally large technology offering after SpaceX.
Profitability Adds to Anthropic IPO Case
Anthropic’s financial position is another important part of the IPO story. The company has reportedly told a limited group of investors that it expects positive adjusted operating income for a second consecutive quarter, according to the Financial Times.
The reported improvement comes alongside rapid revenue growth. Anthropic’s annualized revenue reportedly reached about $65 billion by July, compared with roughly $9 billion at the end of the previous year. The company also reportedly generated $11.5 billion in revenue during the second quarter.
However, the profitability figure requires some qualification. Adjusted operating income excludes certain costs, including stock-based compensation. Reported gross margins above 80% also do not represent a final measure of profitability because they do not account for all model-training expenses and revenue-sharing arrangements with distribution partners.
Those details will become clearer once Anthropic’s IPO prospectus is made public. The filing should give investors a more complete view of revenue, operating expenses, computing costs, capital requirements, and the economics of developing increasingly sophisticated AI models.
Anthropic is also reportedly in discussions with Nvidia about a potential investment of as much as $10 billion as part of the IPO. Reuters reported that Anthropic could seek to raise as much as $100 billion, although the terms remain under discussion and could change.
AI Stocks Face Slowdown Concerns
Anthropic’s IPO preparations are unfolding against a very different backdrop for publicly traded AI companies.
AI-linked stocks fell sharply on September 14 after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for a slower pace of AI capability development. His comments were subsequently backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk, creating an unusual degree of agreement among executives from competing AI companies.
AI-linked stocks fell sharply on September 14 after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and other executives urged slower advanced AI development to strengthen safety safeguards. Source: CNN via X
Amodei wrote that, “We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models,” arguing that increasingly capable AI systems could create significant security and economic risks.
The comments contributed to selling pressure across parts of the AI and semiconductor sector. SoftBank, one of OpenAI’s major investors, fell as much as 13.2% in Japan, while Kioxia, SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics and other AI-related companies also declined. Nvidia and other U.S. technology stocks faced pressure in premarket trading.
The market reaction illustrates how closely investor expectations have become tied to continued AI expansion. Semiconductor manufacturers, chip-equipment companies, cloud providers and data-center operators have benefited from the enormous capital expenditure associated with AI infrastructure.
A meaningful slowdown could therefore affect more than AI model developers. Any reduction in the pace of model training or deployment could influence demand for GPUs, memory chips, networking equipment, data centers and electricity.
Safety Debate Adds Pressure to AI Valuations
The latest market reaction followed a broader debate about AI safety that intensified after the resignation of former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon.
Coxon publicly criticized the race among AI companies and warned about the potential consequences of increasingly autonomous systems. Anthropic safety researcher Evan Hubinger subsequently said he believed there was a greater than 10% chance that AI could “kill all humans” within the next decade. The comments triggered significant discussion across the technology industry.
Global AI-related stocks fell Monday after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for a slowdown in AI development, with other major technology figures supporting the proposal. Source: CNBC via X
Amodei’s subsequent call for slower development did not amount to a halt in AI research. Instead, he argued for greater safeguards, independent evaluation and a more measured approach to advancing frontier models.
Sam Altman has also endorsed the idea of pacing the AI frontier. Musk separately posted, “Dario is right,” signaling support for the broader argument that AI development should account more explicitly for potential risks.
For investors, however, the debate introduces a new variable into an industry that has been priced around exceptionally strong growth expectations.
Saxo Bank chief investment strategist Charu Chanana said the sector’s valuations assume strong demand and a continuing pace of technological progress. She noted that when expectations are elevated, even the possibility of a delay can trigger profit-taking.
Anthropic IPO Faces a Different Test
The contrast between Anthropic’s potential $2 trillion valuation and the recent weakness in AI stocks could make its eventual Nasdaq debut particularly significant.
On one side, Anthropic is showing rapid revenue expansion and is reportedly approaching consecutive quarters of adjusted operating profitability. Its potential IPO would provide public investors with a direct opportunity to assess the financial economics of a frontier AI company.
On the other, the company is entering public markets at a time when investors are questioning the sustainability of the enormous spending required to maintain the AI boom.
The Nasdaq listing itself does not determine whether Anthropic’s shares will perform well. The more important factors are likely to include the IPO valuation, revenue growth, margins, computing costs, capital expenditure, and the market’s confidence in long-term demand for Claude and related enterprise AI services.
Anthropic’s reported selection of Nasdaq therefore represents more than a choice of exchange. It could become an early public-market test of how investors value frontier AI at a time when enthusiasm for the technology is being balanced against questions about profitability, capital intensity, and safety.
With the IPO terms still subject to change, the $2 trillion figure should be viewed as a reported target rather than a confirmed valuation. The eventual prospectus and pricing process will provide the clearest indication of whether public investors are prepared to support that level.
For now, Anthropic’s potential Nasdaq debut stands in sharp contrast to the caution spreading through AI-related stocks. The company is seeking to take one of the industry’s biggest private valuations into public markets just as investors are beginning to question how quickly the AI growth cycle can continue.
