Anthropic amends S-1 filing: “$895.4 billion in investment over several years”

[Financial News]  

Ahead of what is set to be the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history, AI startup Anthropic said in an amended filing of its draft prospectus (S-1) on the 2nd (local time) that AI investment spending over the next several years would approach $900 billion (about 1,211 trillion won). It stressed that massive additional investment would be inevitable to sustain its rapid growth.
According to foreign media outlets including the Financial Times (FT) and CNBC, Anthropic said it had begun fulfilling purchase commitments and lease agreements for investments, and that it would spend about $895.4 billion (about 1,204 trillion won) over the next several years, most of it on computing and infrastructure.
It also said that related spending in the nine months from the start of the year through September 30 rose 329% from the same period a year earlier, an increase of $14.4 billion. Revenue over the same period soared nearly 1,200% to $33.24 billion.
However, it recorded a net loss of $104 billion during this period. The loss widened sharply from the $25.1 billion net loss in the same period last year, mainly because of adjustments to the valuations of convertible bonds and derivative liabilities.
Third-quarter revenue looked good on the surface. At about $17 billion, it had soared 1,127% from a year earlier. But the slowdown in revenue growth quarter over quarter was pronounced. Revenue growth from the previous quarter, which stood at 132% in the first quarter and 144% in the second, plunged to 47% in the third quarter.
From April to September, quarter-over-quarter revenue growth fell to a third of its previous level, but spending on semiconductors, power and infrastructure actually rose over the same period. Data center spending as a share of revenue climbed from 48% in the second quarter to 58% in the third.
It became clear that while Anthropic’s business is growing rapidly, its spending is rising just as sharply.
Technology stocks on the New York market, which had begun to rebound that day on the back of a sharp drop in oil prices, turned lower after Anthropic’s amended S-1 filing was released.
The Nasdaq-100, which is heavily weighted toward big tech companies involved in AI, continued to fall. The index, which plunged 3.5% on the 30th of last month for its worst performance in more than a year, dropped another 1.4% that day. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also turned lower after midday.

[email protected] Song Kyung-jae Reporter