Anthropic, the hot artificial intelligence startup known for its Claude chatbot, has hired the law firm Wilson Sonsini to prepare for an initial public offering (IPO) that could take place as early as 2026, as it races OpenAI to go public, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Tuesday.
An IPO would give the company a more efficient way to raise capital and provide leverage for bigger acquisitions through public stock.
The move comes as AI adoption gains pace, driven by higher enterprise tech spending and growing investor appetite.
An Anthropic spokesperson told Reuters the company has not decided when or even if it will go public.
The company has previously turned to Wilson Sonsini for a range of corporate matters. The law firm did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment on the FT report outside normal business hours.
Anthropic could be prepared to list in 2026, according to the report. The startup has also discussed with major investment banks about a potential IPO, the newspaper said, citing sources.
The FT report said, however, that the talks are in early stages and informal, indicating the company is still far from selecting its IPO underwriters.
Anthropic is negotiating a private funding round that could give the startup a valuation exceeding $300 billion, the report added.
Dario Amodei-led Anthropic is projecting to more than double and potentially nearly triple its annualized revenue run rate to around $26 billion next year. It has more than 300,000 business and enterprise customers.
Microsoft-backed OpenAI, a major rival, is preparing for what could rank among the largest IPO ever, with a potential valuation of up to $1 trillion. The firm is laying the groundwork to go public and may file with securities regulators as early as the second half of 2026, Reuters has reported.
OpenAI's chief financial officer, Sarah Friar, said later in November that a listing is not in the startup's near-term plans.
Last month, Microsoft and Nvidia announced plans to invest up to $15 billion in Anthropic as the AI firm made a $30 billion commitment to use Microsoft's cloud services.
Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI staff, Anthropic was recently valued at $183 billion.
