In brief
- Anthropic has reportedly started early IPO groundwork with long-time adviser Wilson Sonsini while holding informal talks with major banks.
- The company is seeking a private round that could lift its valuation above $300 billion, following $15 billion in early commitments.
- A 2026 listing could sharpen competition in frontier AI as public markets begin pricing hyperscale model development, Decrypt was told.
Anthropic has reportedly begun formal IPO groundwork by tapping Wilson Sonsini, a U.S. law firm that has advised it since 2022, as it weighs a possible listing as soon as next year and looks to test whether public markets could be ready for an AI lab still deep in capital-intensive growth.
The AI development company has reportedly engaged the firm while holding early, informal talks with major banks, according to an initial report from the Financial Times, citing people familiar.
Estimates from sources vary, with one person saying Anthropic could be ready by 2026, while another cautions that doing so remains unlikely.
An Anthropic spokesperson cited in the report said that the company has not made “any decisions about when or even whether to go public.”
The same report indicates that Anthropic appears to be tightening internal readiness as it pursues a private round that could lift its valuation above $300 billion, with early commitments totaling at least $15 billion from Microsoft and Nvidia.
Its most recent post-money valuation was pegged at $183 billion in September.
Based on the West Coast, Wilson Sonsini has advised Anthropic for three years and has also worked on advisory roles for other major tech IPOs, including Apple in 1980 and Google in 2004.
Decrypt has reached out to Anthropic and Wilson Sonsini for comment.
The move positions Anthropic alongside other major AI labs such as OpenAI in exploring a path to the public markets, though both face the same constraint: training costs that scale faster than revenue and financial forecasts that remain difficult to anchor, even as investor appetite for frontier AI bets continues to rise.
“An IPO by Anthropic as soon as 2026, if realized, would dramatically tighten the competitive pressure among major AI labs,” Ram Kumar, core contributor at blockchain and AI infrastructure firm OpenLedger, told Decrypt.
Once sealed, it could “formalize valuation expectations, push capital markets to assign public valuations to AI output, and likely trigger a rush of IPO-and-exit plays across the sector,” Kumar noted.
For investors and enterprises, this could mean that “AI will increasingly be seen not just as a research cost, but as an investable asset class with tradable equity, quantifiable growth targets, and public scrutiny,” he added.
Still, more broadly, the timing for Anthropic’s public debut “raises critical questions,” Kumar said.
“The biggest risk is valuation distortion: large public market expectations may incentivize speed over substance, pushing labs to prioritize growth metrics over data quality, safety, transparency, or long-term infrastructure, all key pillars of a trustworthy AI ecosystem,” he opined.
Yet given how “data-feedback loops and scale tend to concentrate power,” there is possible danger over how public market pressure “could accelerate consolidation, reduce diversity of models, and entrench a small number of dominant players,” he said.
“An IPO-driven race can deliver capital, but it won’t by itself guarantee fair distribution of value, traceability, or long-term ecosystem health,” Kumar warned. “We need fair growth, where contributors are recognized and rewarded, and where intelligence becomes a collectively owned infrastructure rather than the private plaything of a few.”
Generally Intelligent Newsletter
A weekly AI journey narrated by Gen, a generative AI model.
Source: https://decrypt.co/350731/anthropic-starts-early-ipo-prep-possible-2026-debut-report
