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Anthropic's revenue surpasses OpenAI by at least 35%, IPO Competition Landscape Altered

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From being behind by 50% to surpassing by 35%, Anthropic completed the comeback in five months.

Original Article Title: "Anthropic Revenue Surpasses OpenAI by at Least 35%, IPO Competition Landscape Changes"

Just six months ago, Anthropic, which was far behind, has now left OpenAI far behind.

On May 26, according to The Information's report, Anthropic's annualized revenue has reached nearly $45 billion, while OpenAI's annualized revenue has just exceeded $30 billion, currently estimated to be around $33 billion. This means that Anthropic's revenue is at least 35% higher than OpenAI's.

This number was almost unimaginable six months ago. By the end of 2025, Anthropic's annualized revenue was only $9 billion, less than half of OpenAI's.

Five Months, Anthropic's Revenue Multiplied by Five

In the first five months of this year, Anthropic's revenue has grown by about 5 times. In the same period, OpenAI's revenue growth exceeded 50%—impressive in any industry, but quite modest compared to Anthropic.

A source familiar with the matter told The Information that although OpenAI's annualized revenue has exceeded $30 billion, it is currently "not much higher."

The two companies have different business models: OpenAI's revenue mainly comes from ChatGPT subscriptions, while Anthropic mainly relies on selling AI programming and other white-collar work scenario API access to enterprises. However, they still compete directly in their respective markets, and public market investors will inevitably compare the two.

The Gap in Profitability is Even Larger

Revenue is just one aspect. What is more crucial is profitability.

Anthropic is expected to achieve around $559 million in operating profit in the second quarter, with an operating profit margin of about 5%.

OpenAI's situation is quite the opposite. OpenAI's first-quarter operating loss rate was as high as 122%—this is even after excluding major items such as equity incentives. In other terms, the operating loss for that quarter was at least $7 billion.

OpenAI's earlier predictions for this year show that it will burn about $25 billion in cash for the whole year, with AI server rental costs as high as $32 billion. Additionally, OpenAI also needs to give 20% of total revenue to Microsoft, an agreement that will continue until 2030. If this year's revenue reaches the previously predicted $30 billion, this share will amount to approximately $6 billion.

Anthropic also needs to share revenue with cloud partners, but Anthropic's revenue calculation includes the total amount sold through other cloud service providers, part of which will eventually be returned to these partners.

It is worth noting that Anthropic's current profitability status is not without risks. With rapidly growing revenue, Anthropic needs to significantly expand server resources, which may put it back into a loss-making position.

IPO Race: First Mover Advantage Changing Hands

This reversal of revenue and profitability is directly affecting the IPO timelines of the two companies.

Reports indicate that OpenAI's CFO Sarah Friar had previously expressed concerns to CEO Sam Altman about rushing the IPO plans. However, the situation is now different—faced with the stronger financial position of Anthropic, OpenAI's rush to go public has instead become a "financially prudent choice."

The logic is simple: if Anthropic submits its IPO application first and successfully goes public, the public market investors will directly compare the financial data of the two companies. At that time, with faster revenue growth and realized profitability, Anthropic will have a clear advantage in the valuation narrative.

At the current growth rate, Anthropic is expected to surpass the revenue scale of mature tech companies like Netflix, SAP, and Salesforce within the next year.