Anthropic sets price range of $70 to $78 in upcoming IPO as AI lab marches toward Nasdaq

Anthropic said it will offer 825 million shares in its upcoming IPO at a price range between $70 to $78 per share, according to an updated filing on Tuesday, bringing the five-year-old artificial intelligence lab a step closer to a potentially historic Nasdaq debut.

At the high end of the range, Anthropic would net up to $64.35 billion in proceeds through the IPO. The company could end up being worth up to $1.405 trillion on a fully diluted basis, up from the $965 billion valuation it announced as part of a funding round in May.

Anthropic said it has entered into an agreement with Advanced Micro Devices, Broadcom, Google, Micron, Microsoft, Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company to purchase $26 billion of the company's Class N common stock in a private placement at a price per share equal to the IPO price. The shares sold in the private placement will not be registered in the offering and will not be subject to lock-up agreements with the underwriters, the company said.

As Anthropic executives get set to pitch the offering to investors, they have to contend with a tumultuous political environment, following last week's midterm elections that included a Democratic sweep in Congress and the passage of numerous statewide ballot measures that could slow the AI buildout. They're also facing a public market that's grown increasingly skeptical of the AI trade on concern that rising interest rates will make debt unaffordable for companies that need it for costly infrastructure purchases.

CNBC reported last week that some Anthropic investors were bracing for a lower valuation than had previously been expected. While Anthropic had been looking toward a $2 trillion valuation until recently, shareholders told CNBC that even $1.5 trillion is now in doubt, with one investor calling that number a "stretch."

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