According to a draft of Anthropic's IPO prospectus cited by The Wall Street Journal, the company has pledged to spend more than $600 billion on computing power. In the first half of the year, its net loss exceeded $80.7 billion, with $72 billion attributable to accounting provisions, marking a sharp increase from last year's $13 billion loss. Meanwhile, the company posted adjusted positive earnings in the second quarter and saw third-quarter revenue rise 45% quarter over quarter to $16.8 billion.
Anthropic is burning through cash at an unprecedented pace to expand its computing capacity, while simultaneously accelerating preparations for what could be the largest IPO in its history.
On October 20, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal citing a draft of Anthropic's IPO prospectus, the AI startup posted a net loss exceeding $80.7 billion in the first half of 2026, with $72 billion attributable to accounting provisions related to changes in the valuation of convertible notes and other financing instruments—marking a substantial increase from last year's $13 billion net loss.
Meanwhile, the company reported first-half revenue of $16.3 billion, with third-quarter revenue rising 45% quarter over quarter to $16.8 billion.
Anthropic's massive bet on computing power has also captured market attention. According to the Wall Street Journal, the company has pledged to spend over $600 billion on computing infrastructure, with total commitments for compute‑related agreements exceeding $518 billion over the next decade—and it is currently in talks to further expand its computational resources.
Analysts note that the aforementioned spending scale is a valuation factor that cannot be overlooked by prospective investors. Anthropic is reportedly seeking an IPO in November at a valuation of between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion.
The scale of computing power commitments is enormous, and demand for NVIDIA chips has surged.
Anthropic's investment in computing infrastructure is approaching its limits.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the company plans to spend as much as $750 billion on computing power, with up to $86 billion earmarked solely for leasing NVIDIA chips. In the first half of 2026, Anthropic's spending on computing power has already reached approximately $9 billion, while its total computing and infrastructure expenses for 2025 amounted to $7.33 billion.
According to reports, Anthropic is currently in talks with the UK-based emerging cloud computing provider Nscale to expand its computing power partnership. The company plans to lease computing resources from the second building in Nscale's Monarch data center campus in West Virginia, adding approximately 460 megawatts of computational capacity. This will utilize NVIDIA's latest-generation Vera Rubin chips, and Anthropic has retained priority negotiation rights for a third building currently under planning.
If the agreement is finalized, the total contracted value of Anthropic and Nscale will rise to approximately $90 billion.
In terms of cloud computing agreements, according to the Wall Street Journal, Anthropic will spend approximately $111 billion on Google Cloud, about $110 billion on Amazon AWS, and roughly $31 billion on Microsoft Azure.
Revenue posted strong growth, but the pace of cash burn remains undiminished.
Despite the staggering losses, Anthropic's revenue growth curve is equally steep.
According to Reuters, a source familiar with the matter who attended Anthropic's pre-IPO investor conference in San Francisco revealed that the company's full-year revenue in 2025 is expected to grow twelvefold to approximately $4.6 billion, while third-quarter 2026 revenue is projected to increase 45% quarter-over-quarter to $16.8 billion.
However, this rapid growth has been accompanied by persistent operating losses. In 2025, the company's operating loss exceeded US$8 billion, excluding various write-downs of liabilities related to historical financing.
The company stated that it achieved adjusted positive profitability in the second quarter of 2026; however, the precise definition of "adjusted" profit remains to be clarified pending the release of fully audited financial results.
With an IPO imminent, investors are grappling with the dual considerations of high valuations and substantial debt.
Anthropic is reportedly preparing for an IPO that could set a historic record, with a target valuation ranging from $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion. The planned window for the listing is November this year, though the exact date remains undecided. By comparison, SpaceX's earlier IPO once held the record for the highest valuation in the market.
Analysts contend that, for prospective investors, this financial statement warrants careful consideration on several fronts:
First, while the net loss of US$80.7 billion largely stems from accounting provisions rather than direct cash outflows, it nonetheless underscores the substantial volatility in the valuation of the company's previously issued financing instruments.
Second, the pledged spending of over USD 600 billion on computing power implies rigid capital requirements over the next several years.
Third, the specific definition of "adjusted net profit" remains opaque, and the full audited financial statements have not yet been publicly disclosed.
As the arms race in computing power among AI companies continues to intensify, the market's scrutiny of these firms' financial structures has likewise grown.
Editor/Liam