Sources: Anthropic is in talks to bring on Nvidia as an anchor investor in its IPO, seeking up to $100B at a ~$2T valuation; Nvidia may invest up to $10B
Anthropic is in talks to bring Nvidia (NVDA.O) as an anchor investor into what could be the largest IPO in history, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Context & Ripple Effects
Anthropic’s IPO planning has escalated from early discussions of a Q4 listing to banker conversations about raising more than $100 billion at a $2 trillion valuation. Its projected 2028 revenue of roughly $190 billion to $200 billion is the operating case being presented alongside that financing ambition.
The reported talks with Nvidia would add a named prospective anchor to an offering process that had previously been framed around demand from a broad set of potential investors. The terms remain unconfirmed.
First-order effects
- If an agreement is reached, Anthropic would have Nvidia positioned to commit up to $10 billion toward an IPO seeking as much as $100 billion.
- Nvidia would gain a potential equity position in Anthropic through the offering rather than merely participating as an outside market observer.
Second-order effects
- A prospective Nvidia anchor commitment gives other potential IPO buyers a concrete demand and pricing reference as they assess the valuation discussed by Anthropic’s bankers.
- Anthropic’s bankers can use the reported interest of a named anchor to support marketing for an offering already pitched as potentially record-setting.
Third-order effects
- If offerings of this scale become repeatable, frontier AI labs will rely more heavily on public-market capital formation and anchor investors to fund their growth plans.
- The reported structure points toward an AI capital stack in which a small group of large investors can materially shape the financing terms of leading model developers.
The trend: Frontier AI labs are moving from private fundraising toward public offerings structured around exceptionally large anchor commitments and valuation narratives.