Nvidia, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Micron Are All Buying Anthropic’s IPO. Should You Buy Too?

• Anthropic plans to sell 825M Class A shares at $70-$78, valuing it up to $1.4 trillion • Separate $26B private placement of non-voting Class N shares goes to Google, Nvidia, Microsoft, Micron • About 20% of IPO shares reserved for retail investors despite AI-spending skepticism Anthropic is heading for one of the largest IPOs ever, offering 825 million Class A shares priced between $70 and $78. At the top end, that raises $64 billion and implies a fully diluted valuation of $1.4 trillion. Separately, the company is raising $26 billion through a private placement of non-voting Class N shares, which convert to Class A shares if sold to an outside buyer. This structure lets strategic partners—including Alphabet, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Micron—invest without a conflict of interest, and all four are participating at the IPO price. The valuation falls well short of the $2 trillion some analysts floated weeks ago, though it's still roughly 30% above Anthropic's $965 billion valuation from May. The IPO arrives as investors grow wary of AI data-center spending and its returns, and after midterm elections signaled public pushback against new data centers. Anthropic has disclosed nearly $900 billion in spending commitments, about half due before 2030, making continued infrastructure buildout critical to its growth. Still, Anthropic is proceeding while rival OpenAI delays its own IPO to next year. Anthropic already holds $132 billion in cash and investments, but revenue hit $17 billion last quarter with improving cash flow—explaining why its biggest customers are also willing to invest. Anthropic plans to allocate about 20% of IPO shares—up to $13 billion—to retail investors, far above the typical 5-10%. Historically, more than half of IPOs since 1975 have underperformed their offer price after three years, though large VC-backed tech firms do better. Given the more cautious market backdrop and resulting lower valuation, a small allocation at the IPO price looks reasonably attractive given Anthropic's revenue growth and profitability progress.