OpenAI no longer the most valuable AI startup as Anthropic hits $965 billion

In a remarkable turn of events within the AI sector, Anthropic has eclipsed its main competitor OpenAI, achieving a staggering valuation of $965 billion following a successful Series H funding round that raised $65 billion. This achievement positions Anthropic among the most valuable private tech firms globally. Just months after OpenAI completed a landmark financing round in March, which valued it at $852 billion, Anthropic's latest funding round illustrates the growing investor confidence in companies developing advanced AI models. The funding was spearheaded by notable firms such as Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks, and Sequoia Capital, with support from other significant investors including Capital Group, Coatue, D1 Capital Partners, GIC, ICONIQ, and XN. Notably, the round also features $15 billion in prior commitments from major tech players, including a $5 billion investment from Amazon. Anthropic reports that its annual revenue run rate has now surpassed $47 billion, attributed to the increasing adoption of its Claude AI models across various business operations. "Claude has become essential for our expanding global clientele, and our team is dedicated to enhancing tools like Claude Code and Cowork to better serve their evolving needs," stated Krishna Rao, CFO of Anthropic. He added that this new influx of capital will be instrumental in meeting the surging demand, maintaining their research leadership, and extending Claude's reach into more workplaces. With the fresh funding, Anthropic plans to bolster its computational infrastructure, invest in AI safety and interpretability research, and scale up its product offerings and partnerships. The company has also announced several infrastructure agreements to support the rising demand for Claude, including a deal with Amazon for up to five gigawatts of new compute capacity, and collaborations with Google and Broadcom for advanced TPU capacity. Furthermore, Anthropic has secured GPU resources from SpaceX's Colossus 1 and Colossus 2 facilities. Currently, Claude is accessible through major platforms like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, with AWS being its primary cloud provider and training partner. In addition to financial backing, Anthropic has partnered with key infrastructure players such as Micron, Samsung, and SK hynix, whose cutting-edge memory and semiconductor technologies are vital to the AI computing landscape.