If OpenAI started the race and surged ahead in the artificial intelligence (AI) race at the end of 2022 with the launch of ChatGPT, Anthropic has been accelerating and closing the gap. And, by all indications, it is about to gain significant momentum to surpass its rival.
According to the British newspaper Financial Times , the American company is considering raising a new round of funding of up to US$50 billion, a move that would value the company at around US$900 billion and put it on track to reach the US$1 trillion mark, ahead of OpenAI, valued at US$852 billion.
On a comparative basis beyond this rivalry, still restricted to the private market, the list of listed companies with a market value exceeding US$1 trillion currently includes 12 companies. While still limited, this club was once more select, but it has gained strength precisely due to the impetus of AI.
This is the case with Nvidia , which tops this ranking with a market value exceeding US$5 trillion, surpassing companies like Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon. Among the names that have risen to this level with a significant boost from AI are Broadcom and TSMC.
Another statistic that, taking into account the dynamics of the private and capital markets, gives a measure of how quickly AI is moving the needle, is that Alphabet, in second place on this podium, valued at US$4.7 trillion, took about 21 years to reach its first trillion.
Founded in 2021 and having already raised over US$78 billion, Anthropic has built this path thanks to the interest of investors such as Dragoneer, General Catalyst, and Lightspeed Venture Partners, according to people close to the company.
Dragoneer was one of the asset managers that participated in the $30 billion funding round raised by Anthropic in February of this year, when the company was valued at $30 billion. The investment was led by Coatue Management and the Singapore Sovereign Wealth Fund (GIC).
Later, in April, the company raised two more checks. The first, for US$5 billion, was with Amazon, which has been investing in the operation for some time. And the second, for US$10 billion, was with Google, in an agreement that includes the possibility of an additional check for US$30 billion.
According to sources cited by the Financial Times , one of the factors fueling interest in the startup is its rapid growth. In this regard, the expectation is that the company's annualized revenue will soon exceed US$45 billion, compared to US$9 billion at the end of 2025.
"There are people willing to invest any amount in Anthropic. It's only a matter of time before the company shows it's ready," an investor said in an interview with the British newspaper.
This anxiety surrounding the startup is connected to investors' desire to consolidate their positions before Anthropic's initial public offering (IPO). Scheduled to take place this year, the company's IPO is, along with the listings of OpenAI and SpaceX, one of the most anticipated of 2026.
According to sources, given the expected size of the offering, Anthropic will give preference to investors with experience in both private sector and capital markets investments.
All this hype surrounding the company has also been fueled by advancements in new versions of tools in its portfolio, such as Claude. This has helped the company gain ground in the competition with OpenAI, especially among corporate clients.
In early 2026, these releases even helped fuel discussions about the possibility of generative artificial intelligence killing software, supported by arguments that the technology would create a shortcut for any user to develop their own systems.
As has become commonplace in this field, the pursuit of increasingly substantial funding is essential for the company to continue on this path, largely due to the infrastructure and computing power required to develop and operationalize these technologies.
This demand is expected to gain even more momentum with the launch of Mythos, Anthropic's new AI model, currently available to a select group of partners. In this context, the company has recently closed deals with SpaceX, Google, Broadcom, and AWS to secure this capability.
"Anthropic solved the biggest bottleneck and potential source of weakness, which was computing capacity," said another investor in the company.
This does not mean that Anthropic's path is free of obstacles. The company has faced, for example, a series of political and ideological clashes with the government of President Donald Trump, with tense repercussions in this relationship. And also in its business.
Also in early 2026, in one episode of this imbroglio, Anthropic refused to remove the guard rails from its models to allow unrestricted access to the American military. In response, Trump ordered all federal agencies to suspend the use of the company's technologies.
