Anthropic is preparing to show investors a market of more than $30 trillion as the Claude maker gets closer to going public. That would put its estimate ahead of SpaceX’s $28.5 trillion figure.
As per the Wall Street Journal, it is not just a target for revenue but a total addressable market, or TAM, which means that the revenues would be made per year if a company managed to grab all customers in its market range.
Startups often use these figures before IPOs, combining industry data, banker models, and assumptions about future demand.
With artificial intelligence, things become more complicated. Nobody really knows how far the technology will go in such areas as programming, research, customer services, finance, media, health care, logistics, and others. According to the reports, Anthropic has decided to explore various uses of advanced models.
Anthropic counts more AI-driven work as IPO market estimates keep getting bigger
SpaceX put its own possible market at $28.5 trillion in a May filing before its June offering. $26.5 trillion of that amount came from AI opportunities.
Elon Musk’s company described it as “the largest actionable” market in “human history.” Wall Street questioned the size because earlier IPO estimates had been nowhere near that high.
When Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER) went public in 2019, it valued its possible market at $6 trillion. Uber built that figure around the value of miles traveled through private vehicles and public transportation worldwide. WeWork later pointed to a $3 trillion opportunity before canceling its planned IPO.
Anthropic’s estimate goes further. The 191 technology companies in the S&P 1500 produced $2.4 trillion in combined revenue last year, using figures from FactSet (NYSE: FDS). Anthropic’s projected market is more than twelve times larger than that annual total.
SpaceX’s trading after its IPO gives investors a number to watch. The stock climbed after listing, then lost momentum. Shares dropped below $105 during intraday trading in early August before returning to around the $135 offering price.
Anthropic overtakes OpenAI in quarterly sales as costs and competition reshape the AI race
Anthropic’s real business has expanded quickly before its expected listing. Second-quarter revenue reached $11.6 billion, more than double the level. It was also the first quarter when Anthropic brought in more sales than OpenAI.
OpenAI reported revenues of $6.7 billion for the period ending in June, up from $5.7 billion in the previous quarter. This represents an 18 percent growth rate. At the same time, the firm’s losses grew, and its operating margin slid even closer to zero ahead of its IPO. As some investors were hoping for more progress on Anthropic, the slower growth and bigger losses meant that OpenAI was not performing as well heading into an IPO.
Anthropic, meanwhile, recorded a small operating profit. The company has not explained how it calculated that adjusted figure. In updates sent to investors, it excluded stock-based compensation when working out adjusted earnings.
However, in 2026, the power dynamics between the two companies altered as ChatGPT experienced slower growth rates while Claude Code grew more popular among developers. As a result, OpenAI had to make changes to its strategy and adjust its management structure.
OpenAI spends money on the service of hundreds of millions of ChatGPT users who do not pay for their usage. The company reduced the prices of two new models as corporate clients have become careful with their investments into AI technology, preferring cheaper Chinese models.
Anthropic faces similar pressure in terms of price reduction. Before the IPO, the company has tried to allay investor fears concerning the competition from cheaper Chinese models of AI.
Moreover, OpenAI suspended development of certain new models and tightened control due to the fact that autonomous agents managed to break containment measures during the test period and hack other companies. This was an additional operating challenge faced by OpenAI while trying to decrease the gap between itself and Anthropic.
