Is Anthropic going public in 2026?

Possibly as soon as October 2026. Anthropic confidentially filed its S-1 with the U.S. SEC on June 1, 2026, and is recruiting a director of investor relations. Its May 2026 private round valued it at ~$965 billion, while secondary-market transactions imply a valuation nearing $1.2 trillion. No date is confirmed, but October 2026 is the reported earliest window.

When will OpenAI IPO?

Undecided, and possibly 2027. OpenAI confidentially filed its S-1 around June 8, 2026 and is targeting a ~$1 trillion IPO valuation, but the company has signaled the timing is unsettled and could slip to 2027. Its last private round valued it at $852 billion; secondary markets now imply ~$933 billion. OpenAI is projected to post a ~$40 billion net loss in 2026.

Which is the better IPO to watch, Anthropic or OpenAI?

Anthropic is further along on timing (October 2026 vs OpenAI's possible 2027 slip) and carries a higher secondary-market implied valuation (~$1.2T vs ~$933B). OpenAI has larger revenue and a resurgence of secondary-market interest after GPT-5.6 and Codex, but also a projected ~$40B 2026 net loss and a raised capex forecast (~$750B). For timing, watch Anthropic; for scale, watch OpenAI.

Quick Answer

Anthropic vs OpenAI IPO: Which to Watch (July 2026)

Published: July 26, 2026

The Short Answer

Both filed confidential S-1s in June 2026. As of late July 2026:

Anthropic — earliest, possibly October 2026. Filed June 1. ~$965B last private round; secondaries imply ~$1.2 trillion. Actively hiring an IR director.
OpenAI — targeting ~$1 trillion, but timing is undecided and may slip to 2027. Filed ~June 8. $852B last round; secondaries imply ~$933B. Projected ~$40B net loss in 2026.

For IPO timing, Anthropic is the one to watch. For sheer scale and revenue, OpenAI. Both took a ~$392B combined hit to expected valuations around July 21, 2026 when Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3 landed and reset open-model expectations.

The Comparison Table (as of July 2026)

	Anthropic	OpenAI
S-1 filed	June 1, 2026 (confidential)	~June 8, 2026 (confidential)
Earliest IPO window	~October 2026	Undecided (may slip to 2027)
Target / implied valuation	$965B round; $1.2T secondary	~$1T target; ~$933B secondary
Last private round	~$965B (May 2026)	$852B
2026 financials	Growing enterprise/API revenue	Projected ~$40B net loss
Capex signal	—	Raised to ~$750B (from ~$600B)
IR hiring	Director of IR listed	—

Anthropic: Further Along on Timing

Anthropic filed first (June 1), is recruiting a director of investor relations (a classic pre-IPO tell), and reportedly eyes an October 2026 debut. Its secondary-market implied valuation nearing $1.2 trillion already exceeds OpenAI’s, driven by enterprise Claude adoption, the Long-Term Benefit Trust governance story (Ben Bernanke appointment), and API revenue momentum from Sonnet 5 / Opus 4.8 / Fable 5.

The bear case: a ~$1.2T entry valuation prices in a lot of future growth, and the open-weight wave (Kimi K3, GLM-5.2, DeepSeek V4) is compressing frontier-model pricing power.

OpenAI: Bigger, Slower, Cloudier

OpenAI targets a ~$1 trillion IPO but has publicly kept the timing unsettled, with a realistic slip to 2027. It has the larger revenue base and saw a resurgence of secondary-market interest after GPT-5.6 (Sol/Terra/Luna) and the success of its Codex coding agent. But it’s also carrying a projected ~$40 billion net loss for 2026 and just raised its cloud/data-center capex forecast to ~$750 billion (from ~$600B) — enormous spend that the S-1 will have to justify.

What to Watch Next

Anthropic’s formal S-1 flip to public — the moment the confidential filing becomes public, expect a firm date.
OpenAI’s timing decision — 2026 vs 2027 is the swing factor.
Open-weight pricing pressure — Kimi K3 / GLM-5.2 / DeepSeek V4 keep compressing frontier margins; both S-1s will have to address it.
Secondary-market drift — the ~$1.2T (Anthropic) and ~$933B (OpenAI) implied marks move weekly and are the best real-time signal.

Sources

Anthropic gears up for IPO as soon as October (Forge Global): forgeglobal.com/anthropic_ipo
Better IPO stock: Anthropic vs OpenAI (Motley Fool, July 24, 2026): fool.com/investing/2026/07/24/better-ipo-stock-anthropic-vs-openai
OpenAI resurgence in secondary markets (Business Insider, July 2026): businessinsider.com
Kimi K3 shock wipes $392B from expected valuations (IG, July 21, 2026): ig.com