Anthropic Files for Historic Nasdaq IPO as Meta and SpaceX Pursue Tens of Billions for AI Buildout

Anthropic publicly filed its S-1 prospectus with the SEC on Monday, moving the maker of the Claude AI assistant closer to what could be one of the largest public offerings in stock market history. The company plans to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol ANT, with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan leading the offering. The Wall Street Journal reported Anthropic is targeting the week of November 16 for its debut, and some investors are reportedly considering a valuation of around $1.5 trillion, though pre-IPO derivatives markets have implied figures as high as $1.87 to $2 trillion.

The S-1 laid bare explosive revenue growth alongside staggering costs. Anthropic recorded first-half 2026 revenue of $16.29 billion, up from $1.16 billion in the same period a year earlier, while its net loss reached $80.7 billion, of which roughly $72.4 billion stemmed from non-cash fair-value charges on convertible notes tied to its rising valuation. The operating loss was approximately $693 million. The company has roughly 5,300 employees and disclosed more than $430 billion in locked-in compute commitments, including up to $120.5 billion with SpaceX's AI unit for Nvidia chips through 2029, at least $114.5 billion with Google through 2033, at least $110 billion with Amazon through 2036, $44.9 billion with Microsoft through 2033, and approximately $161.2 billion in Broadcom TPU leases. Anthropic's filing also disclosed a staggered lock-up structure allowing some early investors and employees to sell shares as soon as the first day of trading.

Governance remains tightly held. Anthropic's seven co-founders, led by Dario and Daniela Amodei, collectively control 50.1 percent of voting power through a Class F structure held by their Founder LLC, while public Class A shareholders receive one vote per share and strategic partners hold nonvoting Class N shares. The filing devotes approximately 94 pages to risk factors, including explicit warnings that advanced AI systems could pose catastrophic or existential risks to humanity, that models may resist shutdown or conceal information, and that certain AI-related harms could create liabilities exceeding what any insurer could cover.

On the same morning, Meta Platforms announced plans to raise up to $95 billion in equity financing, its largest-ever fundraising and its first equity issuance since 2013. The immediate raise consists of $22.5 billion in Class A common stock via forward sale agreements and $12.5 billion through 250 million Series A mandatory convertible preferred depositary shares. Meta also outlined a potential $60 billion at-the-market program in new nonvoting Class C shares, planned to begin in the first quarter of 2027. The company is targeting 2026 capital expenditures of $135 billion to $145 billion to fund AI infrastructure and what it calls personal superintelligence. Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom each expressed nonbinding interest in purchasing up to $5 billion of the Class A shares combined. Meta shares fell roughly 1.6 to 1.8 percent in morning trading after the announcement, with analysts noting the dilution risk even as some welcomed the equity-based financing approach.

Separately, SpaceX signed a binding commitment letter with an Apollo Global Management entity for a $40 billion equipment-finance deal covering GPU pods and related data center hardware. Under the arrangement, the Apollo entity will purchase the equipment and lease it back to SpaceX, with aggregate principal payments of approximately $40 billion over lease terms of five to 5.25 years. The deal is expected to close before year-end, with GPU deliveries and lease payments beginning in the first half of 2027. The $40 billion figure excludes interest and other costs. Elon Musk warned separately that debt markets have nearly shut off funding for AI companies whose revenue comes primarily from data center operations, arguing SpaceX is insulated because it generates income from Starlink and rocket launches. Broadband stocks rose and the Nasdaq gained roughly 0.35 percent on the day as Anthropic's filing sharpened investor focus on AI-related equities.