Anthropic IPO Set to Price Nov. 18 as AI Trade Hangs on Nasdaq Debut

Anthropic, the five-year-old artificial intelligence lab behind the Claude chatbot, is scheduled to price its initial public offering on Wednesday, Nov. 18, and begin trading on the Nasdaq on Thursday, Nov. 19 under the ticker symbol "ANT," the company's IPO site said, capping one of the largest listings in history.

The offering is being watched across the technology industry as a bellwether for the artificial intelligence trade. Anthropic said it will offer 825 million shares at a price range of $70 to $78 per share, according to an updated filing. At the high end of that range, the company would raise up to $64.35 billion and could be valued at up to $1.405 trillion on a fully diluted basis, up from the $965 billion valuation it announced in a May funding round.

A market test as well as a fundraising

The debut arrives at a difficult moment for the sector. "With rising interest rates, a nationwide AI backlash, a major political shift in Washington, D.C., and the sudden ouster of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, the tech industry is under mounting strain," CNBC reported, calling the Anthropic IPO "the most important tech IPO in years" and "a defining event for the burgeoning but still young artificial intelligence market."

Chipmakers and internet giants are among those buying in. Anthropic said it has agreements with Advanced Micro Devices, Broadcom, Google, Micron, Microsoft, Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to purchase $26 billion of its Class N common stock in a private placement at the IPO price. The shares will not be subject to lock-up agreements with the underwriters.

Anthropic is also targeting a retail allocation of about 20% of the offering, higher than the typical 5% to 10%, people familiar with the details told CNBC.

Spending commitments in the hundreds of billions

The listings' backers are tied to Anthropic's enormous spending plans. The company carries more than $900 billion in outstanding spending commitments, including at least $110 billion with Amazon over a decade and about $400 billion with other companies for cloud capacity, according to its prospectus. It has also made roughly $300 billion in commitments with data center and chip partners, and intends to spend $125 billion to $150 billion on Google AI chips, though delivery will not begin until 2028.

"The numbers are just staggering," Joe Fath, a partner at venture firm Eclipse and a former T. Rowe Price portfolio manager, told CNBC.

Anthropic publicly filed its S-1 paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Oct. 26, and its investor roadshow began Nov. 10. The offering is expected to come roughly five months after SpaceX's record IPO.