Anthropic Is Chasing a $2 Trillion IPO. Its Most Powerful AI Model Is Raising a Big Red Flag

The AI market has entered a new phase. Early buyers were willing to pay almost any price for the most capable models, but businesses are now asking a more ordinary question: How much intelligence do we actually need for the job? 

That shift is important because frontier AI companies have built their valuations around enormous spending on chips, data centers, and model training. Anthropic sits at the center of that bet. The private AI company is reportedly preparing for an October IPO at a valuation of $2 trillion or more — potentially surpassing the record set by SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX | SPCX Price Prediction), which went public in June at $1.77 trillion.

The $200 Billion Revenue Bet

Anthropic’s growth numbers explain why investors are willing to entertain a $2 trillion valuation. Its annualized revenue run rate jumped from roughly $9 billion at the end of 2025 to $47 billion in May and more than $65 billion by the end of July. Reuters reported that Anthropic is projecting roughly $190 billion to $200 billion of revenue in 2028.

A $2 trillion valuation against $200 billion of 2028 revenue would represent roughly 10 times sales. That’s hardly a bargain, but it looks less extreme if Anthropic can actually compound revenue at anything approaching its current pace.