Anthropic is pressing ahead with its initial public offering, dismissing speculation of a pause. The company, known for its Claude AI models, has informed some shareholders that it expects positive adjusted operating income for a second straight quarter, according to a Reuters report citing the Financial Times. This comes as its confidential IPO filing with the SEC moves through the review process.
The reported figures, which Reuters could not independently verify, also indicate a gross margin above 80% before revenue sharing with distribution partners like Amazon and before model training costs. Anthropic has not publicly commented on these numbers.
This adjusted profitability metric is narrower than net income, and it does not necessarily signal a shift to full GAAP profitability. However, it does counter recent speculation that Anthropic had halted its flotation plans. Axios reported on September 14 that the company is still expected to go public in 2026, with Nasdaq selected as its exchange. In contrast, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has stated his company will not list this year, focusing instead on safety.
On Tuesday, shares of Alphabet and Amazon were under pressure, with Alphabet's Class C shares down 1.58% and Amazon down 1.86%. These moves were not solely attributable to Anthropic's news; investors were also grappling with a 10-year Treasury yield near 5% and broader weakness in growth stocks.
IPO Details and Valuation
Anthropic confidentially submitted a draft Form S-1 to the SEC on June 1. The filing allows the company to proceed with a listing after the SEC completes its review, but the number of shares and the offer price have not been set, and any deal will depend on market conditions.
Without a public prospectus, outside investors lack audited financial statements, including income statements and cash-flow statements, as well as a reconciliation of adjusted profit to GAAP. The classification of customer credits, cloud provider revenue sharing, stock compensation, and model training costs remains unclear. This makes the reported 80% gross margin difficult to compare directly with the margins of established tech giants like Alphabet and Amazon.
The valuation reference point is public. In May, Anthropic raised $65 billion at a $965 billion post-money valuation and reported annualized revenue surpassing $47 billion. A potential $2 trillion IPO valuation would be roughly 2.1 times that private-round valuation, but it would not indicate a doubling of the underlying business in less than five months.
Impact on Alphabet and Amazon
For Alphabet, the primary disclosed connection is through infrastructure. Anthropic's May financing announcement revealed a five-gigawatt TPU capacity deal with Google and Broadcom. Alphabet's latest quarterly filing showed Google Cloud revenue of $24.77 billion and operating income of $8.81 billion, with $44.9 billion in quarterly capital expenditure, largely for technical infrastructure. Anthropic could help fill that capacity, but the deal's financial terms are undisclosed.
Amazon's relationship is more explicit. The May round included $5 billion of previously committed Amazon investment, and AWS remains Anthropic's primary cloud and training provider. Anthropic has contracted for up to five gigawatts of Amazon capacity, and a separate April agreement commits more than $100 billion to AWS technologies over ten years.
A simple annual average of that commitment is $10 billion, which equals about 5.9% of the $169 billion annualized AWS sales rate implied by Amazon's second-quarter revenue of $42.23 billion. This is a scale comparison, not a revenue forecast, as capacity comes online unevenly and usage may vary.
What the Prospectus Must Show
Two consecutive adjusted-profit quarters would be significant if they demonstrate that serving existing Claude models now covers inference and operating costs before the next heavy training cycle. This would strengthen Anthropic's position as a customer for both cloud providers and reduce the immediate need for additional private financing.
However, excluding partner revenue shares, training expenses, or stock compensation can omit the very costs that make frontier AI capital-intensive. Until the public S-1 identifies these adjustments and shows cash consumption, investors should view the reported profit streak as evidence of improving unit economics, not proof of durable net earnings.
The next decision point is the public prospectus. A filed S-1 with current financial statements would confirm the listing is approaching and allow investors to test the margin claim. A delay, a smaller offer, or a reconciliation showing large excluded costs would weaken the case. For Alphabet and Amazon today, Anthropic remains a valuable infrastructure customer and strategic partner, not a transparent stand-alone earnings line.
