Anthropic courts investors' trust before record IPO

Anthropic is preparing for what could be the largest IPO ever, but according to a Wall Street Journal report, it faces tough questions from potential investors about the popularity of cheaper Chinese AI systems, tensions with the Trump administration, and opposition to new data centers. Valued at $965 billion, the company plans to debut in September or early October, without sharing pricing or exact timing. Anthropic downplays the Chinese competition, arguing it focuses on top-tier models and that most users want the most intelligent system available, with Chinese models lagging by months. However, recent Chinese models like Kimi K3 and Qwen3.8 have narrowed the gap significantly. To counter negative public sentiment, Anthropic is pushing into healthcare and biology applications. The IPO price and post-IPO performance will likely determine how investors value leading AI developers, with SpaceX's volatile IPO serving as a warning. Anthropic has seen strong revenue growth, with an annualized run rate of over $47 billion, and has signed new compute deals with SpaceX and Google, while rival OpenAI may IPO next year.