Nvidia in talks to invest up to NT$10 billion in Anthropic IPO, source says

Anthropic PBC is in talks to bring Nvidia Corp as an anchor investor into what could be the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history, two people familiar with the matter said.

Anthropic is seeking to raise as much as US$100 billion that could value the artificial intelligence (AI) start-up at about US$2 trillion, the people said on condition of anonymity.

Nvidia is considering investing up to US$10 billion in the IPO, one of the sources added.

Pages from the Anthropic Web site and the company’s logo are displayed on a computer screen in New York on Feb. 26.

Photo: AP

The plans remain under discussion and could change, they said.

Nvidia’s potential involvement in the IPO would give Anthropic an early strategic backer for the outsized offering, while further deepening ties between the chipmaker and one of its major customers.

Bringing a deep-pocketed anchor investor such as Nvidia onboard could boost investor confidence in the listing, which is shaping up to be a major test of public market appetite for the enormous valuations and capital requirements of frontier AI labs.

Anthropic declined to comment. Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The deepened relationship highlights the complex ties between AI model developers and the companies supplying the enormous amounts of computing power they require. Anthropic relies heavily on Nvidia chips, while also seeking to diversify its chip suppliers, as demand for Claude has strained its available computing capacity.

In November last year, Nvidia said it would invest up to US$10 billion in the AI start-up as part of a broader partnership under which Anthropic committed to buy US$30 billion of Microsoft Azure computing capacity powered by Nvidia chips.

Anthropic has been trying to access more compute as its revenue has surged. It is also working to gain greater control over its hardware costs by forming an in-house team to design custom chips tailored to Claude.

The listing, which is expected to complete before the US midterm elections in November, would mark another jump in Anthropic’s valuation. The Claude maker raised US$65 billion in May at a post-money valuation of US$965 billion.

Anthropic’s annualized revenue run rate had climbed above US$65 billion by the end of July, from about US$9 billion at the end of last year, the company said.

The potential valuation also hinges in part on company projections of about US$190 billion to US$200 billion in revenue in 2028, Reuters previously reported.