Artificial intelligence firm Anthropic has seen its revenue climb 45% to $16.8bn (£12.7bn) in the three months to the end of September, according to information that has come to light. The company, which develops the Claude chatbot, shared the figures on Wednesday while briefing prospective investors at its San Francisco headquarters.
The company is preparing for a stock market listing that is expected to take place before the end of the year. An Anthropic spokesperson declined to comment. The timing coincides with a sell-off in some tech shares, driven by worries about the heavy spending on AI infrastructure.
Quarterly revenue growth and reported profits
Anthropic’s revenue has risen in each successive quarter this year. It grew from $4.7bn in the first three months to $11.6bn in the following period. The company also reportedly said it had made a profit for the second quarter in a row.
Its figures, along with those of rival OpenAI, are an important gauge of the AI industry’s growth and its ability to pay for the infrastructure needed to develop the technology.
Chip stocks and Asian markets slide
US technology stocks fell on Wednesday over concerns about AI investment. Shares in chipmakers including AMD, Nvidia and Intel dropped sharply.
The decline spread to Asia on Thursday morning. Shares in Japanese tech investment firm Softbank fell by more than 9%, while South Korean semiconductor giants Samsung and SK Hynix dropped 9.4% and 10.8%. Tech-heavy indexes in the region also weakened, with South Korea’s Kospi down 7.6% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 down 4.8%.
Broadcom chief’s casino comparison and safety concerns
The falls followed remarks on Monday by Hock Tan, chief executive of US tech manufacturer Broadcom, at a conference in Singapore. Tan said many investors have “no clue” and have set “extreme expectations only to find out that it’s almost like they are in a casino”.
Concerns over the safety of AI models have also been raised. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said in September that his company would not go public this year as it addresses those concerns. The ChatGPT developer is still eyeing a stock market listing that is expected to value it at more than $1tn.
Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei has also been vocal about the risks of AI, calling on the pace of development to slow down. The company opened an office in Singapore on Wednesday.
