Anthropic recorded $17 billion in revenue for the third quarter of this year, marking a 12-fold increase compared to the same period last year.
According to Anthropic's amended IPO filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the 2nd (local time), the company's Q3 revenue reached $16.96 billion, a 47% increase from $11.56 billion in the previous quarter. Compared to approximately $1.4 billion in the same period last year, revenue surged by 1,127%.
Despite significant year-over-year growth, assessments suggest that the growth rate has slowed and profitability has deteriorated. The quarter-over-quarter revenue growth rate declined from 144% in Q2 to 47% in Q3. While demand for enterprise AI services has sustained overall growth, the explosive growth momentum has not been maintained.
The Q3 operating loss was $567 million, turning from an operating profit of $974 million in the previous quarter. The primary cause is attributed to rising computing costs and infrastructure investment burdens required for AI model operations.
Anthropic's Q3 computing and infrastructure costs amounted to $9.9 billion, accounting for 58% of revenue. This was a 10 percentage point increase from 48% in Q2. Notably, $5 billion spent on short-term computing contracts, which are more expensive than long-term agreements, impacted profitability.
Adjusted operating income, excluding one-time costs, increased to $2.5 billion from $2.2 billion in the previous quarter. However, the adjusted operating margin decreased from 19% to 15% during the same period.
Net loss narrowed significantly to $23.29 billion from $66.3 billion in the previous quarter. However, the net loss includes substantial accounting costs from fair value fluctuations in financial instruments such as convertible bonds, which should be distinguished from actual operating losses.
Future large-scale infrastructure investment burdens were also confirmed. Anthropic disclosed that its total purchase and lease commitments centered on computing and infrastructure amount to $895.4 billion. Of this, approximately $447.5 billion is scheduled to be executed by the end of 2030.
As the IPO approaches, market evaluations of the company's valuation are shifting. According to foreign media like Reuters, some investors are lowering Anthropic's enterprise value from the existing $2 trillion to around $1.5 trillion.
Matt Kennedy, chief strategy officer at Renaissance Capital, stated, “While Anthropic's performance itself is not concerning, pressures on growth rates and profitability will likely be reflected in the final IPO valuation.”
