Nvidia may bankroll Anthropics massive IPO

Reuters has reported that Anthropic is in talks with Nvidia in anticipation of the latter's potential investment in the former's upcoming IPO. Should the discussions lead to a deal, Anthropic's IPO could be the largest in stock market history. According to two sources familiar with the matter, Anthropic aims to raise up to $100 billion in the offering, which would raise the company's valuation to around $2 trillion.

This would place Anthropic in the same financial echelon as some of the world's largest public companies, despite still being unlisted itself. Sources have suggested that Nvidia is contemplating an investment of up to $10 billion as part of the deal, though the specifics are still under negotiation. The concept of a leading investor committing early funds ahead of an IPO, commonly known as anchor investing, is not new.

Such a strategy has been employed by companies preparing for large-scale listings, with Nvidia and Amazon playing similar roles in Arm's IPO, and Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund doing the same for SpaceX. If Anthropic's IPO proceeds as reported, it would mark a continuation of a surge of major stock listings this year. Excluding blank-check companies, U.S. IPOs had already amassed a record $137 billion through the end of August.

Nvidia and Anthropic have already demonstrated a strong financial relationship, with Nvidia committing to an investment of up to $10 billion as part of a broader partnership. In this arrangement, Anthropic pledged to spend $30 billion on Microsoft's Azure cloud service, which runs on Nvidia chips. A subsequent investment tied to the IPO would further solidify this relationship.