Anthropic’s IPO prospectus signals slower growth ahead

Anthropic's revenue surged 30-fold to $11.6 billion in Q2 2026, but its IPO prospectus warns of slowing growth, rising compute costs, and increased competition, tempering expectations for a potential $2 trillion valuation. The AI lab achieved a $1 billion operating profit in Q2 after a $1.7 billion loss, with compute spending falling to 48% of sales. However, growth slowed to 45% in Q3, and reliance on tech giants for distribution has pushed sales costs to 19% of revenue. Anthropic is shifting to direct chip purchases and custom infrastructure, a capital-intensive plan that may limit free cashflow. It also faces pressure from OpenAI's Codex and internal alternatives at major customers like Meta and Microsoft.