Anthropic overtakes OpenAI in enterprise AI, WSJ reports

Anthropic has seized the lead in the enterprise artificial intelligence market from OpenAI, powered by the rapid adoption of its Claude Code developer tool and a $965 billion valuation that surpassed its rival's, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal News Corp ↘ 3.58%. The shift marks a striking reversal for a company once considered an also-ran in the generative AI race.wsj+1

Claude Code Fuels the Surge

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Anthropic has rapidly expanded its influence among developers and enterprise customers, while OpenAI has contended with slowing ChatGPT growth, executive departures, and intensifying competition for corporate clients. Anthropic's valuation reached $965 billion after closing a $65 billion Series H funding round in May, overtaking OpenAI's $852 billion valuation from its March 2026 raise.wsj+1

The Journal's analysis pointed to a divergence in strategy: while OpenAI spread resources across consumer products including video generation tool Sora and proprietary chip efforts, Anthropic concentrated on its Sonnet 3.7 model and Claude Code, which became dominant in enterprise coding environments. Major clients including Blackstone ↘ 3.82% chose Anthropic's tools over OpenAI's Codex, which drew criticism for speed and usability.sedaily

$36 Billion Debt Deal Takes Shape

Separately, Bloomberg reported on Monday that Blackstone has held early discussions with investors about a second mega debt package to finance Anthropic's use of Alphabet's ↘ 3.58% Google custom AI chips. The initial proposal calls for at least $36 billion in debt, which would exceed a $35 billion package arranged by Apollo Global Management ↗ 0.17% and Blackstone roughly two months earlier — itself one of the largest private credit transactions in history.benzinga+2

The financing would support Anthropic's lease of Google's tensor processing units across multiple data centers as it scales compute infrastructure beyond one gigawatt beginning this year.benzinga

IPO and OpenAI's Response

Anthropic is also advancing toward a potential IPO as early as October, having confidentially filed its prospectus with the SEC and hired Goldman Sachs ↘ 1.38%, Morgan Stanley ↘ 0.89%, and JPMorgan Chase ↘ 0.73% to lead the offering. The company is projected to reach $50 billion in annualized revenue.cnbc+2

OpenAI has launched a counteroffensive, with President Greg Brockman reorganizing its product lineup and releasing new models GPT-5.2 and GPT-5.6 Sol. CEO Sam Altman acknowledged the challenge on X, writing: "The past 12 months have not been the best, and the responsibility for that lies mainly with me," while pledging to "make the next 12 months the best ever".sedaily