The latest

US corporate spending on Fable 5, Anthropic’s largest and most expensive model, has levelled off at about 11 per cent of overall outlay on the company’s tools, based on Ramp data covering 70,000 companies. The plateau, more than two months after release, breaks a pattern of businesses defaulting to the most powerful models. Its take-up has been slower than previous cutting-edge releases, adding uncertainty before an IPO that investors expect could value Anthropic at $2tn or more. Anthropic declined to comment.

Details

• Price drives choice: Analysts and Anthropic investors said price and performance now outweigh political uncertainty in customer decisions. Older systems can handle most business workloads, while companies are trying to contain AI costs by deploying models more efficiently rather than automatically selecting the most sophisticated option.
• Launch disruption: Fable 5’s launch in early June was interrupted when the Trump administration forced its withdrawal, citing national security concerns. Access concerns receded after its relaunch was approved for July 1, although government-imposed data-retention rules also hampered adoption, said Ara Kharazian, Ramp’s chief economist.
• Revenue trajectory: Anthropic told shareholders that annualised revenue reached $65bn in July, up from $47bn in May but below bullish investor projections that it would cross $80bn. Revenue has nevertheless increased nearly sevenfold since the beginning of the year. June growth was hit largely by the government’s rollout restrictions, but subsequently rebounded.
• Profit and customers: The company recorded its first adjusted operating profit in the second quarter and guided investors that it was likely to be profitable again in the third. Anthropic also said 6,000 customers spend at least $100,000 annually.
• Competitive pressure: OpenAI’s annualised revenue jumped 35 per cent in the quarter to date to more than $40bn. The July launch of GPT 5.6 revived its performance after a sluggish start to the year, while cheaper open-weight models from China and elsewhere have expanded customers’ options.
• Internal alternative: GPT 5.6 is priced significantly below Fable 5. Anthropic’s smaller but still powerful Opus 5 model, which also carries a lower price, surpassed Fable in business spending after launching in late July, according to Ramp.

Between the lines

Miles Clements, a partner at Anthropic investor Accel, said most customers do not need to operate at the technological frontier. Breakthrough models remain important for ambitions such as curing disease and attracting leading researchers, but he expects them increasingly to serve as showcases rather than businesses’ default choice.

What’s next

Anthropic could pursue its IPO as soon as next month. Its third-quarter results will show whether it repeated adjusted operating profitability, while Ramp’s spending data will indicate whether Fable 5 has expanded beyond its 11 per cent share.