Anthropic’s Q3 revenue growth slows, nearly 900 billion computing power commitment raises financing risks ahead of IPO
Anthropic's revenue growth is slowing, increasing financing risks ahead of its IPO.
According to Zhitong Finance APP, AI startup Anthropic saw a significant slowdown in revenue growth in the third quarter, and the company has warned in documents that the computing power supporting its rapid expansion faces new risks. This adds another concern for investors to consider ahead of its much-anticipated initial public offering (IPO). The disclosure appeared in a revised S-1 filed on Monday. The document shows that Anthropic narrowed its net loss, with revenue increasing 47% quarter-on-quarter to $16.96 billion, but the growth rate slowed — in the previous quarter, revenue had risen by 144% quarter-on-quarter.
The scale of computing power commitments between Anthropic and partners such as Amazon (AMZN.US) and Google under Alphabet (GOOGL.US) is close to $900 billion, highlighting that the company’s rapid growth relies heavily on massive future capacity, some of which depends on financing arrangements outside the company's control.
"Some of our computing power suppliers and infrastructure partners rely on third-party financing or credit support to purchase chips and develop capacity; if such financing or support becomes unavailable or costs rise, contracted capacity may be delayed, repriced, reduced, or undeliverable," Anthropic stated in the filing.
Wall Street is increasingly uneasy about this debt-driven AI buildout: record borrowings for data centers, chips, and other infrastructure have widened tech bond spreads and forced issuers to offer higher premiums to attract investors.
Anthropic is preparing to officially launch its stock roadshow for potential investors next week. After disclosing financial details at a recent investor event, some current and potential investors are weighing a $1.5 trillion valuation, down from about $2 trillion previously.
“We will be watching to see when this capacity becomes available, when payments begin, and how revenues grow relative to these obligations,” said Evan Schlossman and Willy Lee, heads of venture capital firm Neostellar, when talking about Anthropic’s future procurement and leasing commitments.
Anthropic filed the document as the U.S. stock market’s rebound faded on Monday, with tech stocks seeing fresh selloffs, highlighting investors’ anxieties about the AI boom. However, Amazon’s stock closed higher that day, while Alphabet ended flat.
Anthropic stated that as its AI models take on a greater proportion of research and development work, the company is considering strengthening manual oversight on some R&D decisions. The company previously warned that advanced models might develop unexpected abilities, realize they are being evaluated, and behave in ways that are harder to monitor. CEO Dario Amodei has called for slowing the pace of model development.
Re-examining Financial Details
The company expects that nearly half of its $895.4 billion commitments related to AI infrastructure spending will occur by December 31, 2030; about $69.8 billion is expected to come due in the 12 months after September 30 this year.
Anthropic disclosed an additional $5 billion in computing power costs this quarter, weighing on efficiency improvements and causing revenue per dollar of computing power to fall compared to last quarter.
“I don’t think these results are concerning, but I do expect some of the pressures on growth and margins to be reflected in the ultimate IPO valuation,” said Matt Kennedy, senior strategist at Renaissance Capital, specializing in IPO research and ETFs.
As of September 30, on a trailing 12-month basis, Anthropic had over 11,900 customers contributing at least $100,000 in revenue, up from more than 1,500 at the end of 2025.
Net loss narrowed from $6.63 billion in the previous quarter to $2.329 billion. The company reported an operating loss of $567 million in the third quarter, compared to an operating profit of $974 million in the second quarter.
Anthropic’s operating loss reflects the company's operating costs, including investments in computing infrastructure and research; its net loss also includes non-operating items related to bonds that can be converted into company shares.
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
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