Reportedly joining OpenAI in delay, Anthropic is also said to be putting off its IPO

Anthropic is reportedly postponing its planned initial public offering, shifting the target from October 2026 to November. According to The Information and The Wall Street Journal, the listing is now expected no earlier than late October, with November seen as the more likely window. Advisors to the company say Anthropic wants to post strong third-quarter results before going public, a decision that carries major weight given that investors anticipate a valuation of roughly $2 trillion and a capital raise of up to $100 billion — figures that would both surpass the records set by SpaceX's June IPO.

Strong numbers, but a curious timing choice

The stated rationale for the delay doesn't fully hold together, assuming the second-quarter results were already robust enough to support a listing. And a strong third quarter would arguably do more for the stock after it starts trading than before.

The financials reported so far are striking. The Information reports that revenue more than doubled between the first and second quarters of 2026, climbing from about $4.7 billion to over $11.5 billion. Spending on computing infrastructure grew more slowly over the same span, up 65 percent from $3.4 billion to $5.6 billion. The company's self-described "adjusted operating margin" also improved, swinging from negative 13 percent in the first quarter to a positive single-digit figure in the second — though that metric comes with important caveats.

Enterprise demand is booming, but cash still matters

Anthropic's business customer base is expanding rapidly. By the end of 2025, roughly 1,500 companies had each spent more than $100,000 on the company's AI software over the previous 12 months. By the close of the second quarter of 2026, that figure had quadrupled to about 6,000. Within the same 12-month window, more than 100 companies each spent over $10 million, and over 1,000 each spent more than $1 million. The company reportedly projects revenue of roughly $190 billion to $200 billion for 2028.

Still, an IPO wouldn't put that money directly in investors' hands. Its primary purpose would be to open long-term access to debt and equity markets. Even with $120 billion to $130 billion in cash reported in early August, Anthropic will likely need additional funding as data center buildouts and model training continue to consume reserves. The computing infrastructure agreement it signed with SpaceX in May alone runs $1.25 billion per month.

Competition, accounting questions, and safety risks

Several factors could explain the postponed timeline, and the truth is probably a blend of them. Anthropic recently claimed to be profitable, but its calculations excluded major expenses such as stock-based compensation and did not follow standard accounting rules.

Meanwhile, OpenAI has clawed back market position thanks to Astra and moved ahead on the AI model platform OpenRouter. Both firms must sustain rapid growth in the months ahead to justify their enormous data center investments. Rising interest rates are making those facilities costlier to build, and cheaper open-weight models are intensifying competitive pressure.

Safety is another open question. The cybersecurity capabilities of frontier models have already produced "unintended hacks" during safety tests involving OpenAI as well as Google, Anthropic, and Meta. As long as the resulting damage remains uninsurable, these incidents represent meaningful operational risk. So far they haven't been classified as attacks, and no sanctions or lawsuits have followed — they've largely been brushed off as an "AI novelty." That tolerant stance is unlikely to survive the heightened scrutiny that comes with being a public company.

OpenAI, for its part, has also delayed its own IPO to 2027. Sam Altman pointed to safety concerns, arguing that an AGI company has good reason to remain private through such sweeping change. Given the other pressures both companies face, that is at best part of the picture.

The underlying question remains whether all of this AI spending will pay off — how much additional revenue companies actually generate, or save, compared with having humans do the same work. Those returns are still difficult to measure.

What to watch next: Anthropic's third-quarter results and any updated filing timelines will signal whether November 2026 holds, or whether the listing slips further as competitive and financial pressures mount.