Claude AI maker Anthropic considers IPO as soon as October

Anthropic PBC is considering going public as soon as in October, according to people familiar with the matter, as the artificial intelligence company races with rival OpenAI Inc. to hold an initial public offering.

The maker of the popular Claude chatbot has had early discussions with Wall Street banks about taking leading roles on a potential listing, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley are expected to be under consideration for key roles on Anthropic and OpenAI’s listings, some of the people said.

The Information reported earlier on the timing of Anthropic’s IPO. A listing could raise more than $60 billion, according to the report.

Deliberations are ongoing and no final decisions have been made, the people said. Representatives for Anthropic, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan declined to comment. Spokespeople for OpenAI and Morgan Stanley didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Anthropic was valued at $380 billion in a $30 billion funding round co-led by MGX that closed in February. It has partnerships with Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Nvidia Corp. These established firms have taken stakes in the AI startup, and have given Anthropic specialized chips and other technology in deals worth tens of billions of dollars.

Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI staffers including Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei, Anthropic has aimed to be a more responsible AI steward than its competitors. Claude and its underlying technology have gained traction with enterprise customers in sectors like finance and health care, as well as with developers. Anthropic has pledged to spend $50 billion to build custom data centers in the US.

Anthropic ran afoul of the Pentagon earlier this year, which had declared the company a threat to the US supply chain under an authority normally reserved for foreign adversaries. The company won a court order on Thursday blocking the ban on government use of the technology, after Anthropic argued the move could cost it billions of dollars in lost revenue.