AI startup Anthropic has asked U.S. law firm Wilson Sonsini to prepare initial documentation for an IPO listing that is expected to take place in 2026, as per a Financial Times report on Wednesday, December 3rd.
The update comes as AI startups look for funding and get it in most instances. However, most AI companies are private entities and are seeking funding from previous funding rounds.
Anthropic is on an expansion spree currently with company announcements stating the firm has opened offices in Paris and Munich and invested $50 billion in data center infrastructure in America.
Right now, pure play AI firms face stiff competition from publicly traded tech companies, as they continue to fund their data center infrastructure projects, picking up growth from the stock market on the back of multi-billion dollar deals and partnerships. Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Nvidia, and Meta are all competing for the best talent in AI and the best possible infrastructure to help build their own projects.
Anthropic has a valuation of $183 billion, with its latest Series F funding round raising a total of $13 billion in September this year.
Larger firms such as OpenAI and HUMAIN are also preparing for IPOs as well, with OpenAI targeting a valuation of $1 trillion, as per media reports. However in the case of OpenAI, CFO Sarah Friar in November said that an IPO was not in the making yet.
Anthropic was created in 2021 by former OpenAI employees and is known for the Claude family, a group of LLM products trained for various applications.