Anthropic reveals $900B AI spending commitments ahead of IPO

Anthropic’s updated IPO filing depicts a company growing rapidly while committing extraordinary sums to the infrastructure needed to serve demand for Claude and other AI products. Third-quarter revenue rose nearly 50 per cent to $17bn, but growth slowed from earlier in the year. Spending on chips, power and infrastructure climbed 77 per cent year on year to $9.9bn, and data-centre expenses reached 58 per cent of revenue, up from 48 per cent in the previous quarter. The company disclosed $895.4bn in computing and infrastructure purchase commitments and leases, with $447.5bn expected to be incurred by the end of 2030. It has agreed to spend more than $3bn a month with SpaceX alone.

The spending surge erased a second-quarter operating profit of $974mn, producing a third-quarter operating loss of $567mn, largely because of higher computing costs and expensive short-term contracts. Anthropic reported $1.2bn in quarterly interest income and a net loss of $23.3bn, down from $66.2bn in the second quarter. Investors considering an IPO that could value the company at $1.5tn-$2tn will weigh its growth against the challenge of achieving profitability and the strain of competing with OpenAI and others. The filing also warns that Anthropic’s models may soon meet its threshold for dramatically accelerated AI progress, potentially requiring stronger safety measures; the company acknowledges it may not recognize such acceleration until after it occurs.