"Securing AI infrastructure investment is key to competitiveness"... Anthropic speeds up IPO plans

[Financial News New York/Seoul = Correspondents Lee Byung-chul and Joo Won-kyu] Anthropic, an artificial intelligence startup, has begun the process for an Initial Public Offering (IPO). As the technology race for global AI dominance shifts into the capital markets, analysts say the competition to secure investment funds is intensifying.
Anthropic announced on the 1st (local time) that it had filed an IPO application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It became the first to formally submit the paperwork, ahead of OpenAI, which had already announced plans for an IPO.
Anthropic, which raised $65 billion in new investment last month, was valued at $965 billion, or about 1,460 trillion won. That puts it ahead of OpenAI, which was valued at $852 billion in March.
The two companies, both aiming to go public within the year, are rushing to raise funds because they want to secure investment capital before their rivals do.
Cerebras, an AI chip company, has already moved ahead with its listing, and Elon Musk's space company SpaceX is also preparing for a mega IPO. In that environment, being earlier in the IPO queue is seen as a major advantage in fundraising. SpaceX is reportedly seeking to raise around $75 billion at a target valuation of about $1.75 trillion. Alphabet Inc. also announced an $80 billion funding plan on the same day to expand AI infrastructure.
AI companies are betting heavily on IPOs and other financing efforts because they fear that falling behind in the race for GPUs, data centers, and power supply could stall their growth altogether.
According to foreign media reports, the four big tech companies — Alphabet Inc., Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon.com, Inc. — are expected to spend between $600 billion and $700 billion on AI-related capital expenditures this year. As competition for data centers, semiconductors, and power infrastructure intensifies, some forecasts say related investment could exceed $1 trillion by 2027.
The prevailing view is that, because market capital is limited, companies that list first are more likely to absorb large sums of money.
Patrick Healy, founder of Issuer Network, told The Wall Street Journal, "There is only limited oxygen in the market," adding, "SpaceX will suck up a huge amount of capital. The second company to go public will have an advantage over the third, but it will not be in as strong a position as the first."
Meanwhile, the IPO news from Anthropic is expected to bring major investment gains and business synergies for Korean companies listed as key shareholders and partners. SK Telecom (SKT), for example, made a strategic investment of $100 million, or about 130 billion won, in Anthropic in 2023.
According to SKT's business report, its stake in Anthropic stood at 0.3% at the end of last year, with a valuation of 1.3762 trillion won. As Anthropic's corporate value continues to rise, the market expects the value of that stake to increase as well.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and SK hynix are also listed as key infrastructure partners and major investors in Anthropic. Industry sources say the two companies recently invested trillions of won in the startup. Samsung Electronics' solo investment is said to be worth several trillion won. Among the three major memory chip makers, including Micron, Samsung Electronics is reportedly the largest investor.



pride@fnnews.com Lee Byung-chul, Joo Won-kyu Reporter