Anthropic recorded a net loss of more than $US80 billion (£61 billion; A$114 billion) in the first half of the year and has indicated it could spend up to $US750 billion (A$1.1 trillion) securing computing capacity in the coming years, according to a report citing a draft prospectus for its planned initial public offering.
The loss, reported by the Wall Street Journal, was substantially higher than the $US13 billion (A$19 billion) recorded a year earlier. About $US72 billion (A$103 billion) of the latest figure was attributed to accounting charges linked to changes in the value of financial instruments issued by Anthropic to raise funds.
The figures highlight the heavy costs facing companies competing in the artificial intelligence market, as investors assess whether spending on chips and data centres will ultimately deliver sufficient returns.
Anthropic revenue rises as infrastructure spending accelerates
Anthropic’s revenue rose to $US16.3 billion (A$23.3 billion) in the six months to June 30, from $US1.1 billion (A$1.6 billion) during the same period a year earlier.
AI infrastructure spending also increased sharply, nearly quadrupling to almost $US9 billion (A$13 billion), the report said. Anthropic did not respond to a request for comment, while the figures could not immediately be independently verified.
The company has benefited from demand for Claude Code, its coding assistant used by developers to write software and build applications.
However, some existing and potential investors are considering a lower valuation for Anthropic following its latest financial disclosures, according to people familiar with the matter who attended the company’s investor day in San Francisco last week.
Investors at the meeting discussed a valuation of about $US1.5 trillion (A$2.1 trillion), below the roughly $US2 trillion (A$2.9 trillion) valuation previously expected for the November share sale.
Anthropic told investors that revenue in the third quarter had risen 45 per cent from the previous quarter to $US16.8 billion (A$24 billion), and that it had been profitable on an adjusted basis during the period.
A weaker reception for the IPO could affect the wider AI market, with investors viewing the share sale as important to the sector’s near-term prospects ahead of a potential listing by rival OpenAI next year.
