Anthropic, the company behind the popular Claude chatbot, has filed confidential paperwork with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to make an initial public offering this year.
Once public, investors will be able to buy and trade shares in the firm, though the price and number of shares to be offered “have not yet been set,” the company said.
Anthropic was founded five years ago by chief executive Dario Amodei and a handful of other executives, and was most recently valued at more than $965bn (£717bn) by private investors.
That valuation placed Anthropic ahead of OpenAI, which was most recently valued by private investors at $852bn, making the listing a closely watched moment for the AI sector.
Amodei founded Anthropic after working several years at OpenAI, which he left following disagreements with its chief executive Sam Altman.
The two companies have since become fierce rivals, developing similar technology and competing for users and corporate customers across the AI sector.
OpenAI is also reportedly considering its own public listing this year, setting up what could be an unprecedented period of AI-focused capital market activity.
“Neither Anthropic nor OpenAI wants to be the last major AI pure-play to list,” said Troy Hooper, a leader of equity capital markets at Mergermarket.
“The first mover has a real chance to define how public markets value generative AI, setting up the yardstick that investors will use to measure everyone else,” Hooper added.
Anthropic’s IPO plans arrive alongside those of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is expected to break stock market records with its target valuation.
The company has faced a turbulent period after disputes with the US Department of Defense over a $200m contract that included terms allowing government agencies to use Claude for “any lawful use.”
Amodei publicly raised concerns that such language could allow Claude to be used in mass domestic surveillance or on fully autonomous weapons of war.
President Donald Trump denounced the company, and defense secretary Pete Hegseth subsequently prohibited any US agency from using Claude.
Anthropic launched legal action against the government, and while there are recent signs that tensions with the White House have cooled, the lawsuit remains ongoing.
Despite that conflict, the company has told investors it expects to turn a profit in the first half of this year, as sales of Claude and related services have grown significantly.
Neither SpaceX nor OpenAI are currently profitable, further distinguishing Anthropic’s position heading into its anticipated market debut.