June 1 (Reuters) - AI giant Anthropic said on Monday it has confidentially filed for a U.S. initial public offering, teeing up what could become a watershed moment for Wall Street's AI frenzy.
The move sets up a high-stakes test of whether investor appetite for the AI revolution that has reshaped white-collar work around the world can match the sky-high expectations surrounding the booming sector.
Anthropic, which operates AI chatbot Claude, did not disclose the size or the terms of the offering. It last raised $65 billion at a post-money valuation of $965 billion in late May, putting it ahead of rival OpenAI.
The crucial step toward a listing comes on the heels of SpaceX's mega-IPO, which is on course to rewrite the record books as the Elon Musk-led company pursues a $75 billion offering at a $1.75 trillion valuation.
Rival OpenAI and Anthropic have become the face of the AI boom that has redrawn corporate strategies, sparked a global arms race for computing power and talent, and turned AI-linked companies into some of the market's most richly valued firms.
Anthropic's valuation has more than doubled from $380 billion in February, when it raised $30 billion in a funding round.
The company's rapid rise in early 2026 rattled markets, triggering sharp selloffs in software and IT stocks as investors worried its increasingly autonomous AI tools could upend traditional business models and accelerate disruption across industries.
OpenAI is also preparing to confidentially file for a U.S. IPO in the coming weeks, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters in late May, adding to a wave of blockbuster listings anticipated in the year ahead.
A MARKET MILESTONE
As a slew of blockbuster listings races toward public markets, companies from SpaceX to AI giants are competing for a finite pool of investor capital.
The listing would represent one of the most consequential stock market debuts in years, potentially reshaping benchmark indexes, investor flows and the broader narrative driving U.S. equities.
At close to a $1 trillion valuation, Anthropic would vault into the top tier of the S&P 500, alongside a handful of elite companies that dominate global equity markets.
An Anthropic debut would be a major boost for the long-sluggish IPO market, though experts and bankers warn an offering of such scale could drain liquidity and investor attention from smaller listings.
(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Shinjini Ganguli)
