Anthropic Is Now the Most Valuable AI Startup

Anthropic just slid past OpenAI to grab the crown as the world's most valuable AI start-up. The San Francisco firm said Thursday it raised $65 billion in a deal that pegs its valuation at $900 billion, topping OpenAI's most recent valuation of $730 billion, the New York Times reports. The funding round comes only about three months after Anthropic was valued at $380 billion, and as its annualized revenue projection has jumped to $47 billion, driven largely by demand for its code-writing tools.

Anthropic also rolled out a new flagship model Thursday, Claude Opus 4.8, which outside testers say is notably stronger at "vibe coding"—producing software from plain-English prompts. Founded in 2021, Anthropic has quickly become a central player in the AI arms race, even as CEO Dario Amodei publicly presses for tighter rules on how the technology is used, including in warfare, a stance that has sparked friction with the Pentagon.

The company's backers now range from venture firms to chipmakers like Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix, as well as Amazon and Google. Anthropic is weighing an IPO, potentially this year, as it jockeys with OpenAI and Elon Musk's SpaceX in the race to reach public markets. CNBC reports that OpenAI plans to file an IPO prospectus in the coming days or weeks, while SpaceX is expected to debut on the Nasdaq on June 12.