Anthropic priced above $2 trillion as markets await IPO filing

Traders are pricing Anthropic above $2 trillion in pre-IPO derivative markets, more than double the $965 billion valuation the AI company reached during its $65 billion Series H round in May 2026, as investors await the public release of the S-1 filing that could pave the way for the largest initial public offering in history.euronews

A Valuation Built on Speculation

Anthropic, the maker of the Claude family of AI models, filed its IPO paperwork confidentially with the SEC on June 1 and has chosen Nasdaq ↗ 2.90% for its listing. Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ↗ 1.44%, JPMorgan ↗ 0.09% and Morgan Stanley ↗ 0.54% are leading an offering expected to raise more than $60 billion, with reports suggesting the company is targeting a valuation of $2 trillion.finance.yahoo+1

The only live price on Anthropic currently comes from perpetual futures contracts on Hyperliquid, the decentralized derivatives exchange, where the implied market capitalization reached an all-time high of roughly $2.36 trillion before settling near $2.15 trillion. Heng Yu Lee, a partner at market maker DWF Labs, told Euronews that "the premium is pricing in public information that's available, such as expected revenue numbers and expected market demand for the stock," though he cautioned against relying heavily on the absolute pricing before the S-1 is public.euronews

The company's annualized revenue run rate passed $65 billion by the end of July, up from roughly $9 billion at the end of 2025, driven by enterprise adoption of Claude. At a $2 trillion valuation, that implies a multiple of roughly 31 times annualized revenue. Losses remain enormous, reportedly close to $42 billion in 2025, reflecting the cost of training frontier models.finance.yahoo+1

Safety Warnings Cloud the Path Forward

Anthropic approaches its potential listing under unusual circumstances. CEO Dario Amodei published an essay last weekend titled "We Must Pace the Frontier," arguing that AI companies should deliberately slow the rate at which they improve their most capable models. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman voiced agreement and told Fortune on Saturday that his own company's IPO this year would be "ill-advised".euronews

President Donald Trump dismissed the warnings while speaking in Ireland on Sunday. "We're leading China in AI," he said. "Whoever wins AI wins". China's foreign ministry called the warnings "fearmongering".aljazeera+1

A Crowded Year for AI Listings

If Anthropic proceeds, it would cap a year already defined by blockbuster AI offerings. Cerebras Systems listed on Nasdaq in May, raising $5.55 billion and closing its first day near a $67 billion valuation. SpaceX listed in June, raising more than $85 billion at a valuation that briefly touched $2.8 trillion. Amazon Amazon.com, Inc. ↗ 2.20% and Alphabet ↗ 1.35%, both holding double-digit stakes in Anthropic, stand to benefit from the listing, while Nvidia ↗ 2.71% has reportedly been considering a $10 billion investment in the IPO. Until the S-1 filing becomes public, however, Anthropic's path to the largest flotation ever recorded remains a story the company has yet to tell on paper.finance.yahoo+1