Claude has become a household name among workers, developers and companies. According to Reuters, which reviewed Anthropic's draft IPO prospectus, the company's revenue reached nearly $4.6 billion in 2025, twelve times the previous year. On paper, any company would sign up for that kind of growth.
But behind the numbers sits an unusual figure. Anthropic recorded a net loss of nearly $42 billion for the year. According to the report, about $34 billion of the loss came from a non-cash accounting charge reflecting the rising value of convertible financing instruments that can be converted into shares. Stripping out that item, the operating loss reached $8.06 billion, up from $2.98 billion in 2024.
The test beyond the noise
Anthropic confidentially filed a draft S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in June ahead of a possible IPO, which Reuters says is likely to come after the November midterm elections. According to the report, the offering is targeting a valuation above $2 trillion. In May, the company raised $65 billion at a $965 billion valuation.
Investors here are not looking at 2025 profit. They are looking at future growth and a place in the AI race. But Anthropic's growth has cost enormous sums. The company spent $7.33 billion on computing and infrastructure in 2025, up 190% and more than half its operating expenses. The filing also discloses $518 billion in future computing commitments.
Will AI pay the bill?
The 2026 numbers suggest the picture is already shifting. Anthropic's preliminary second-quarter revenue topped $11.5 billion, more than double its revenue for all of 2025, and it reported positive adjusted operating income for the quarter. Its annualized revenue run rate reached about $65 billion by late July.
The company is also heading toward the possible IPO with a wide cash cushion. At the end of 2025 it held $20.28 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, giving it room to keep building, signing customers and expanding Claude.
The risks remain real. Nearly a quarter of Anthropic's 2025 revenue came from just two customers, and many of its large customers are not locked into long-term contracts.
So the story is no longer whether Claude interests the market. It does. The test is whether Anthropic can sustain its turn toward profitability. If revenue keeps climbing and the big customers sign on for the long term, the IPO will get a broad base. If costs and computing commitments outrun revenue, the $42 billion loss will remain the big warning sign at the entrance to Wall Street.
