Anthropic’s Revenue Hits $47B Annualized Rate, Eclipsing OpenAI’s Performance

Key Highlights

• Q2 2026 revenue exceeded $11.5 billion, representing a 14-fold increase compared to the prior year period
• First-ever quarterly operating profit achieved at $559 million
• Annualized revenue run rate surpassed $47 billion in May, exceeding OpenAI’s $40 billion rate
• Revenue forecasts between $190 billion and $200 billion expected by 2028
• Major investment banks Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan are orchestrating a potentially historic public offering

In preliminary financial results, Anthropic disclosed second-quarter revenue exceeding $11.5 billion, representing an approximately 14-fold surge from the $787 million generated during the comparable quarter last year. This performance also marks more than a doubling from the company’s first-quarter 2026 results of $4.73 billion.

The developer of Claude AI additionally recorded positive adjusted operating income during the period, achieving its inaugural quarterly operating profit estimated at $559 million. These preliminary numbers remain subject to potential adjustments.

By May 2026, the company’s annualized revenue run rate had surpassed $47 billion. This exceeds OpenAI’s reported run rate of over $40 billion, although direct comparison may be complicated by differing calculation methodologies.

Rapid Expansion Trajectory

Anthropic’s revenue run rate stood at approximately $9 billion as 2025 concluded. The company experienced over 10-fold annual growth in each of three consecutive years leading into early 2026. This extraordinary expansion rate explains why investors are comfortable evaluating the company based on projections extending to 2028.

Management forecasts revenue reaching between $190 billion and $200 billion by 2028. These ambitious targets significantly exceed current performance metrics and illustrate the unprecedented growth trajectory investors are being invited to support.

Investment bankers are employing enterprise value-to-revenue multiples derived from these 2028 projections, an uncommon but not unprecedented approach. Cerebras Systems similarly utilized 2028 revenue forecasts before its public listing, while SpaceX relied on projections extending to 2029 prior to going public.

Valuation benchmarks for Anthropic include companies like Cloudflare, Palantir, and SpaceX. Palantir currently commands a multiple of 53 times anticipated 2026 revenue. Both SpaceX and Cloudflare trade at approximately 41.6 times multiples.

Path to Public Markets

Anthropic has submitted confidential paperwork for a public market debut. The underwriting consortium includes Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase.

Management is currently conducting investor roadshow meetings in advance of what may become one of the largest initial public offerings in market history. A fall 2026 launch would position Anthropic ahead of competitors OpenAI and DeepSeek, the Chinese artificial intelligence company also planning a public listing.

IPO activity in 2026 has already generated $256.4 billion in proceeds, representing the highest annual total since 2021, based on Bloomberg’s tracking data.

Market participants anticipate that as Anthropic achieves greater scale, revenue expansion will outpace cost increases, driving margin improvement over time. While current expenditures on GPU infrastructure, model development, and talent acquisition remain substantial, analysts project these costs will decline as a percentage of total revenue.

David Merkel from Aleph Investments suggested a $2 trillion valuation could be achievable, while expressing uncertainty about long-term sustainability at that level.

Anthropic declined to provide commentary regarding specific IPO valuation details when contacted.