Anthropic Prepares Nasdaq IPO Amid Surge in Enterprise AI Spending
Anthropic is preparing for a Nasdaq IPO with a target valuation up to $1.5 trillion as enterprise AI spending reaches a $176.8 billion annualized run rate.
Enterprise AI spending has surged to a $176.8 billion annualized run rate as of September 2026, according to a report by Menlo Ventures. This represents a sharp increase from $33 billion in 2025, driven by a shift toward financing work performed by AI agents rather than simple employee access. The report notes that Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic capture 69% of this deployment spending, though a small group of heavy spenders is driving the average increase.
Against this backdrop of growth, Anthropic is preparing for an initial public offering on the Nasdaq under the ticker ANT, with trading potentially beginning as early as next Thursday or Friday. Working with advisors Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the company is targeting a valuation between $1 trillion and $1.5 trillion. The IPO process recently faced a brief complication when a filing was retracted after it contained outdated fundraising targets of nearly $70 billion.
To strengthen its market position before listing, Anthropic launched the Claude Fable 5.2 and Mythos 5.2 models, which feature lower pricing and 30% faster outputs. While the company reported $33.24 billion in revenue for the nine months ending September 30, it faces a broader AI stock selloff and data from Ramp suggesting a plateau in corporate spending. Internally, the company has navigated debates over development speed; while CEO Dario Amodei called for a slower pace to emphasize safety, head of product management for research Dianne Penn clarified, "We called for pacing, not pausing."
