Key Points
- Nvidia is in talks to invest up to $10 billion in Anthropic's planned IPO, Reuters reported.
- Anthropic is seeking as much as $100 billion, a raise that could value it near $2 trillion.
- At that size, the listing would be the largest initial public offering ever completed.
The latest:
Talks are underway for Nvidia, the world’s largest maker of artificial intelligence processors, to invest as much as $10 billion in Anthropic’s upcoming initial public offering, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Anthropic is targeting up to $100 billion in proceeds, a raise that could push its market value toward $2 trillion and set a record for public listings.
Details:
- The investment: Nvidia’s participation as an anchor investor in the offering is still under discussion and could change, according to Reuters. The chipmaker is already the dominant supplier of the processors that train and run large AI models, making it both a vendor to and a potential shareholder in the companies building them.
- The size: Anthropic is seeking to raise up to $100 billion through the IPO, Reuters reported. If completed at that level, the offering would be the biggest in the history of initial public offerings, with a resulting market capitalization of roughly $2 trillion.
- Earlier signal: Bloomberg reported in August that Anthropic had projected its offering would match or exceed the record listing of SpaceX. No pricing range, listing venue or timetable for the offering has been announced.
- The last round: Anthropic raised $65 billion in May at a valuation of $965 billion, according to the reporting. That round placed it ahead of its closest rival on paper and established the base from which the current $2 trillion target is measured.
- The rival: OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, was valued at $852 billion in March, when it raised $122 billion in that round. The two valuations put Anthropic above OpenAI for the first time on the figures cited.
- No comment: Representatives of Nvidia and Anthropic have not responded to Bloomberg’s requests for comment on the potential deal. Neither company has publicly confirmed that talks are taking place or described any terms.
- The numbers gap: The figures attached to the two AI developers span a wide range across a single year: $852 billion for OpenAI in March, $965 billion for Anthropic in May, and a target near $2 trillion for Anthropic’s listing.
Background:
Anthropic and OpenAI are the two best-funded developers of large language models, and both have raised tens of billions of dollars in private rounds at valuations that climbed steeply through the year before any public listing.
Between the lines:
Nvidia would be buying into a company that is also one of its customers, since Anthropic’s models depend on the processors Nvidia sells. The reported figures also show the scale of capital moving through the sector: the $100 billion Anthropic is seeking is larger than the $65 billion it raised in May and close to the $122 billion OpenAI raised in March.
What’s next
Watch for confirmation from Nvidia or Anthropic, a formal filing setting the price range and listing venue, and any shift in the reported $10 billion anchor commitment, which Reuters said could still change.
