Anthropic may take the lead in solving AI profitability problems ahead of its IPO

Anthropic assures investors that adjusted operating profit will remain positive continuously

According to people familiar with the matter, Anthropic has ensured that its adjusted operating profit will remain positive in the next quarter. Before deducting model training costs and revenue sharing with partners such as Amazon, the company's gross margin is expected to exceed 80%.

The market has long been concerned that the company is spending too much on artificial intelligence (AI) development. Achieving profitability will be an important milestone as the initial public offering (IPO) plan moves forward. Anthropic has reportedly confirmed a listing on Nasdaq, a move that could value it more than $2 trillion. If the transaction proceeds smoothly, it will break the previous record set by SpaceX, which entered the public eye in June this year with a valuation of US$1.77 trillion.

Although the company was expected to release its prospectus last week, it currently only provides access to documents to selected investors and collects feedback before public disclosure. This positive earnings outlook is critical to Anthropic's preparations for a potential IPO. Investors are increasingly focusing on whether leading AI companies can turn rapid revenue growth into sustainable profits, rather than relying on continued large-scale capital injections. Anthropic's ability to achieve positively adjusted operating profits while expanding its customer base will become an important selling point before its IPO.

At the same time, computing power, model development and partnerships have brought huge cost pressures. High gross margins and continued huge investment in AI systems may affect the views of investors looking for long-term valuations.

Anthropic's annual revenue is expected to triple in 2027

Anthropic achieved adjusted operating profit in the second quarter with revenue of US$11.5 billion (a 14-fold year-on-year increase). The company's financial momentum continued into late July, with annualized revenue soaring to US$65 billion, well above the US$9 billion benchmark at the close of late last year. Currently, the company still expects to achieve profit in the third quarter.

Joey Brookhart, an AI laboratory analyst at SemiAnalysis, said when talking about future revenue that some investors expect Anthropic's annual revenue to reach US$120 billion by the end of the year and nearly triple its previous level by the end of 2027. Other reports also show that the company predicts revenue of approximately US$190 billion to US$200 billion in 2028. To support this optimistic expectation, the technology giant said it currently has 6000 customers who consume at least $100,000 a year.

However, given current profit margins, Brookhart warns that other companies may have difficulty competing. "If you continue to maintain these profit margins and growth rates, it will be extremely difficult for competitors to compete with Anthropic because they have such huge computing resources," he pointed out.

However, as many people call for slowing down the development of AI technology, tracking Anthropic's progress will become increasingly difficult. While suspending research and development could save the company billions in model training costs, it could also help competitors close the gap.

CEO Dario Amodi calls on industry to slow down model upgrades

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodi recently said that as concerns about AI energy consumption intensify, the industry must slow down model upgrades. He believes: "Not developing this technology will miss out on human welfare or simply hand over AI to authoritarian forces; developing too quickly is irresponsible." He explained that if major improvements in AI are pursued without management, they may exceed human cognitive and management capabilities, so development must proceed with extreme caution-or even temporarily stopped.

Sam Altman and Elon Musk expressed similar positions. Altman confirmed to Fortune that although OpenAI filed a confidential IPO application in June, the company will remain private this year and believes 2026 is not the right time to go public.

Overall, multiple AI companies have been privately discussing each other's security agreements recently. Sources close to the negotiations pointed to three main factors contributing to the dialogue: recent cybersecurity breaches, growing concerns among researchers about the capabilities of next-generation AI, and the political reality that President Donald Trump is unlikely to halt the development of AI.

Sales of Anthropic's most expensive model, Fable 5, are stagnant

Most AI companies are counting on making money from new models. However, company spending data tracked by Ramp shows that sales of Anthropic's most expensive and powerful model, the Fable 5, have stagnated at about 11% of total sales, even though the model has been on the market for more than two months. More notably, Anthropic's lower-priced Opus 5 model overtook the Fable 5 in commercial popularity shortly after its launch in late July.

Several large AI laboratories are betting billions of dollars to build models that are as smart as possible, assuming users are willing to pay high prices for superior performance. If corporate buyers prefer economic alternatives that meet basic needs, the underlying economic assumptions for the entire industry will change fundamentally.

As a result, Anthropic's financial performance presents a complex picture on the eve of a potential IPO. Strong revenue growth, high gross margins and an expanding corporate customer base may support its trillion-dollar valuation. However, slowing demand for its most expensive models highlights the challenge of persuading customers to pay higher prices for increasingly advanced AI.

As Anthropic and its competitors continue to invest heavily in computing power and model development, investors will be closely watching whether rapid AI growth can translate into lasting profits. The company's ability to balance expansion with rising development costs could ultimately become one of the key factors shaping its public market debut.