In comparison, after completing a record-breaking $122 billion financing round at the end of March this year, OpenAI's valuation reached $852 billion. The core driver of Anthropic's financing is the new model Claude Mythos Preview—an AI model with advanced cybersecurity capabilities that requires substantial computational power to operate.

Written by: Dong Jing

Source: Wall Street Journal

According to reports, Anthropic is seeking to complete a new financing round with a valuation of $900 billion. If successful, this AI startup's valuation will surpass its competitor OpenAI for the first time, marking a rapid narrowing of the valuation gap between the two companies in just a few months.

On April 29, according to CNBC, a knowledgeable source revealed that Anthropic is currently in discussions with investors regarding the aforementioned financing and has not yet signed any term sheet, with negotiations still ongoing. Bloomberg was the first to disclose this potential financing plan.

One of the direct drivers of this financing is Anthropic's recently launched new model Claude Mythos Preview—an AI model with advanced cybersecurity capabilities. This model has sparked several high-profile meetings among Trump administration officials, tech company CEOs, and bank executives, and the company needs to raise funds to acquire the computational power required to run this model.

Meanwhile, Anthropic's commercialization process is accelerating. The company announced earlier this month that its annual revenue has reached $30 billion, up significantly from about $10 billion in total revenue last year.

Valuation Surge, Surpassing OpenAI

Reports indicate that if this financing is completed at a $900 billion valuation, it will represent a significant leap in Anthropic's valuation. In February this year, the company's valuation was only $380 billion.

In comparison, after completing a record-breaking $122 billion financing round at the end of March this year, OpenAI's valuation reached $852 billion, with strategic investors including Amazon (the largest contribution of $50 billion), NVIDIA ($30 billion), and SoftBank ($30 billion).

If Anthropic successfully completes this round of financing, its valuation will surpass OpenAI by about $40 billion, which has significant symbolic meaning in the competitive landscape of the AI industry. Anthropic was founded five years ago by former OpenAI executives and has been catching up with this industry pioneer since the release of ChatGPT at the end of 2022.

Reports state that the core factor driving this round of financing is Anthropic's recently released Claude Mythos Preview. This model, which has advanced cybersecurity capabilities, is currently only available to select enterprises and has garnered widespread attention in Washington and Wall Street, facilitating several high-profile meetings between Trump administration officials, tech CEOs, and bank executives.

According to reports, insiders revealed that running Mythos requires substantial computational power, which is one of the important reasons why Anthropic is seeking new capital.

Days before the launch of Mythos, Anthropic also released Claude Opus 4.7, positioning it as the most powerful model currently available to the public. The successive unveiling of these two models has further strengthened market expectations of Anthropic's technological capabilities.

Computational Power Strategy Becomes a Focus, Accelerating Commercialization

Acquiring computational power has become a central theme of Anthropic's recent strategic deployment.

Earlier this month, Anthropic signed an agreement centered on AI infrastructure with Amazon. According to the agreement, Amazon agreed to invest up to $25 billion in Anthropic, which will secure a capacity of up to 5 gigawatts for training and deploying its Claude series models.

Meanwhile, Anthropic has also secured an additional 5 gigawatts of computational power through collaborations with Google and Broadcom, with this capacity expected to come online next year. Google also announced plans to invest up to $40 billion in Anthropic this month.

The total of these two computational power agreements amounts to 10 gigawatts, indicating Anthropic's intentions for large-scale expansion at the infrastructure level, while also laying the resource foundation to support the training and inference of the next generation of models.

On the commercialization front, Anthropic's growth momentum is also noteworthy. The company announced this month that its annual revenue has reached $30 billion, while its revenue for the entire year of 2024 is about $10 billion, indicating substantial revenue growth in a short period.

This growth is largely attributed to the widespread adoption of its AI programming assistant Claude Code. This product has accumulated a large number of users over the past year, becoming an important engine for Anthropic's commercialization.