Anthropic IPO: Amazon and Alphabet as Major Beneficiaries

Anthropic, the developer of the AI chatbot Claude, filed a confidential draft of its IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 1 June 2026. According to Bloomberg, marketing could begin as early as the week starting 9 November, with trading potentially starting before Thanksgiving. The most recent funding round in May 2026 valued the company at 965 billion US dollars. Current reports suggest a possible IPO valuation near 2 trillion US dollars with an issue volume of up to 100 billion US dollars.

Amazon with the largest balance sheet exposure

According to Investing.com, Amazon holds the most transparent stake in Anthropic. The company invested a total of 8 billion US dollars in Anthropic convertible bonds between 2023 and 2025. In the second quarter of 2026, a further 5 billion US dollars followed in the form of Series G preferred shares without voting rights and 5 billion US dollars in Series H preferred shares. This brings Amazon's direct investments to a total of 18 billion US dollars.

As of 30 June 2026, Amazon carried its Anthropic preferred shares at a book value of 92.5 billion US dollars and the convertible bonds at an estimated market value of 97.9 billion US dollars. Together, these positions reached a balance sheet value of 190.4 billion US dollars. The convertible bonds alone contained unrealised gains of approximately 92 billion US dollars in cumulative other comprehensive income. Based on observable funding rounds, Amazon recorded approximately 50.5 billion US dollars in upward adjustments to its Anthropic preferred shares in the second quarter. The company reported 53.4 billion US dollars in other income in the second quarter, primarily attributable to Anthropic.

According to estimates by AOL, Amazon holds approximately 15 percent of Anthropic. At an IPO valuation of 2 trillion US dollars, this stake would reach a value of 300 billion US dollars.

Alphabet with contractually limited position

According to court documents, Alphabet holds approximately 14 percent of Anthropic in the form of direct equity stakes. The stake is contractually limited to a maximum of 15 percent to reduce tensions between Google's own AI model Gemini and Anthropic's Claude. At the previous valuation of 965 billion US dollars, Alphabet's stake was worth approximately 135 billion US dollars. At an IPO valuation of 2 trillion US dollars, the 14 percent stake would reach a market value of 280 billion US dollars.

In October 2025, Anthropic announced it would use up to 1 million of Google's Tensor Processing Units (TPUs). The Motley Fool described this expansion as a partnership worth several dozen billion US dollars.

Data centre partnerships as an additional lever

Anthropic pursues a hybrid approach to compute infrastructure, operating workloads on both Amazon's and Alphabet's custom-built AI chips. Amazon has also established a financing facility that can provide Anthropic with up to 20 billion US dollars, while Amazon supplies certain compute capacity. This amount was reduced following Series H financing.

With Anthropic's expansion, the need for compute power grows. Both technology companies benefit directly as providers from this growth, regardless of how their stakes develop.

Nvidia and Broadcom as hardware beneficiaries

Besides Amazon and Alphabet, Anthropic uses a significant amount of Nvidia hardware according to AOL. Broadcom has collaborated with Anthropic to develop a custom-built AI chip. If Anthropic in future prefers its own custom chips over offerings from Amazon and Alphabet, Broadcom could become a major beneficiary.

Balance sheet risks from extreme valuation jumps

According to Investing.com, the Anthropic IPO represents an extraordinary test of the AI boom and creates a unique balance sheet situation. Amazon and Alphabet have recorded very high unrealised gains while Anthropic's private valuation rose. These gains have become so significant that in individual quarters they exceed the operating results of the companies' core businesses. This distinguishes Anthropic from typical startup stakes, which normally play no comparable role in the balance sheets of technology companies.

A public listing will for the first time create a visible market price for an asset that has already generated substantial accounting gains before continuous stock market trading. If public investors accept a valuation of 2 trillion US dollars, previous balance sheet approaches could prove conservative. However, if the IPO is valued below expectations or the stock falls after listing, the same balance sheet exposure could become headwinds.

Timing and valuation remain uncertain

According to Bloomberg, roadshow activities could begin as early as the week of 9 November 2026, with possible trading starting before the American Thanksgiving holiday in late November. However, timing and final valuation remain subject to change.

For investors wishing to participate in Anthropic's success without waiting for the IPO, Amazon and Alphabet are the only liquid and transparent access points. Both companies have built multi-layered positions through their combination of equity stakes and infrastructure partnerships that go beyond pure financial investments.