Anthropic flags revenue surge to investors ahead of stock market debut

Artificial intelligence (AI) giant Anthropic saw its revenue surge by 45% to $16.8bn (£12.7bn) in the three months to the end of September, the BBC understands.

The figures were revealed by the Claude-developer as it briefed prospective investors on Wednesday at its headquarters in San Francisco as it lays the groundwork for a stock market listing, which is expected to take place before the end of the year.

It comes as some tech stocks, including firms that make the chips and other hardware that power data centres, have come under pressure over concerns about the large amounts of money being spent on AI infrastructure.

Anthropic's revenue has risen in successive quarters this year, from $4.7bn in the first three months to $11.6bn the following period.

The company also reportedly said that it made a profit for the second quarter in a row.

Its revenue figures, along with those of rival OpenAI, offer an important gauge of the AI industry's growth and ability to finance the infrastructure needed to develop the technology.

Stocks in some US technology companies fell on Wednesday over concerns around investments in AI.

In Asia, shares in Japanese tech investment firm Softbank fell by more than 9% on Thursday morning. South Korean semiconductor giants were also down, with Samsung falling by 9.4% and SK Hynix dropping 10.8%.

Tech-heavy indexes in the region were also down. South Korea's Kospi was 7.6% lower while Japan's Nikkei 225 fell by 4.8%.

The falls come after remarks by Hock Tan, the chief executive of US tech manufacturer Broadcom, over AI spending.

Tan said at an conference in Singapore on Monday that many investors have "no clue" and have set "extreme expectations only to find out that it's almost like they are in a casino".

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said in September that his company will not go public this year as it addresses concerns about the technology's safety.