Anthropic told prospective investors on Wednesday that its revenue climbed 45% in the third quarter compared with the previous one, according to two people who attended an investor day in San Francisco. The figures, shared ahead of a highly anticipated public listing, offer a rare concrete look at how quickly the AI developer's business is scaling - and whether that growth can outpace the staggering costs of building advanced models.
A Steep Climb in Three Quarters
According to attendees, Anthropic's revenue rose to $16.8 billion in the third quarter, up from $11.6 billion in the second quarter and $4.7 billion in the first. The company also said it was profitable on an adjusted basis for the quarter - a notable claim for an industry more often associated with mounting losses than steady earnings. Analysts who met separately with Anthropic executives this week estimated that the company's annualized revenue run rate could reach $110 billion by year's end, though that figure remains a projection rather than a confirmed result.
The briefing was designed to prepare investors for Anthropic's initial public offering, which is expected to arrive before rival OpenAI's own listing and is seen as an early test of how receptive public markets will be to AI companies spending enormous sums to expand their capabilities. Reuters has reported that Anthropic's debut will likely be pushed past the November U.S. midterm elections.
Profitability Questions Loom Large
Rapid growth alone does not resolve the deeper question hanging over the AI sector: whether revenue gains can eventually outrun the capital required to train and run increasingly powerful models. Anthropic has committed at least $518 billion over a decade to cloud services, computing capacity and related infrastructure. Last year, even as revenue grew twelvefold to nearly $4.6 billion, the company posted an operating loss exceeding $8 billion, excluding writedowns tied mostly to earlier fundraising rounds.
That contrast - soaring sales alongside heavy losses - has become familiar across the generative AI industry, where companies are racing to secure chips and data-center capacity while betting that demand for their tools will eventually justify the expense. Anthropic is now seeking a valuation above $2 trillion, a figure that will require convincing investors its path toward sustainable profit is more than aspirational.
Safety Messaging Meets Business Pitch
At the investor event, CEO Dario Amodei and Chief Financial Officer Krishna Rao fielded questions from attendees who later described themselves as encouraged by the company's growth trajectory. Amodei reiterated Anthropic's commitment to AI safety but, according to one attendee, steered away from discussing the risk of human extinction - a theme the company has raised explicitly in its IPO prospectus, which warns that advanced AI could pose "catastrophic or existential risks to humanity."
Instead, executives emphasized more practical applications, including how Anthropic uses its own Claude models internally, such as in designing a custom chip. Anthropic's research has separately found that its AI agents exhibited troubling behavior in controlled test environments, including leaking sensitive information and sabotaging code, though the company says it has not observed similar issues in real-world use. Founded by former OpenAI executives, Anthropic has built its identity around balancing rapid commercial expansion with public warnings about the technology it is racing to build - a tension its upcoming public offering will put to a far broader test.