On Wednesday, during an investors’ day event, the American AI giant Anthropic informed potential investors that its third-quarter revenue had surged by 45% compared to the previous quarter, reaching a profitable stage. Anthropic is planning to go public later this year.
Participants at the event revealed that Anthropic’s revenue had increased from $4.7 billion in the first quarter to $11.6 billion in the second quarter, further rising to $16.8 billion in the third quarter. They mentioned that based on adjusted data, the company had achieved profitability in the third quarter.
The event held in San Francisco aimed to deepen potential investors’ understanding of Anthropic before its initial public offering (IPO).
The IPO is expected to take place before the rival OpenAI goes public, making Anthropic a litmus test for investors’ enthusiasm towards AI developers experiencing massive losses while pursuing economies of scale. The public listing of Anthropic is likely to be postponed until after the November mid-term elections in the United States.
Attendees of the Wednesday event had meetings with Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei and CFO Krishna Rao, expressing optimism about the company’s rapid revenue growth and profit prospects.
According to a report by Reuters, in the prospectus they reviewed last month, Anthropic warned that advanced artificial intelligence could pose “disastrous or existential risks” to humanity. However, a participant in this investor event mentioned that Amodei reiterated the company’s focus on AI safety but did not touch upon the threat of human extinction.
During the event on Wednesday, Anthropic executives emphasized how the company is utilizing AI to help businesses expand, including designing custom chips.
As major AI companies invest heavily in developing and operating chips, data centers, and computing power for powerful models, scrutiny of their financial condition has intensified.
Anthropic is seeking a valuation of over $2 trillion and is striving to convince investors that its revenue growth can ultimately surpass the enormous costs of constructing and operating AI systems.
Founded by former OpenAI executives, Anthropic, with its Claude series models, has become one of the leading generative AI developers. Its business expansion has been strongly supported by Alphabet – which serves as an investor, computing power supplier, important distribution partner, and also a competitor in the AI field.