Anthropic's Q3 revenue hits $17 billion as growth slows before IPO

Growth is slowing: Quarter-over-quarter growth fell to 47% from 144% in the second quarter, CNBC and Reuters noted. For the first nine months of 2026, revenue was $33.24 billion, up about 1,206% from $2.55 billion in the same stretch of 2025, the filing shows.

Back to an operating loss: Anthropic posted an operating loss of $567 million, after $974 million in operating income in the second quarter. The filing blames $5.0 billion of compute bought under short-term commitments, which "currently costs significantly more" than compute under its longer contracts, plus about $2.0 billion in non-cash charges from its employee donation matching program. On its own adjusted measure, which strips out those charges and stock pay, operating income rose to $2.46 billion from $2.24 billion, though the adjusted margin slipped to 15% from 19%.

The bottom line: The net loss was $23.29 billion, down from $66.31 billion in the second quarter. Most of it, $21.94 billion, is a non-cash accounting charge for the rising value of convertible notes, derivatives and SAFEs, a type of early-stage investment contract. Over nine months the net loss totals about $104 billion. Anthropic had $95.6 billion in cash and $36.3 billion in short-term investments on Sept. 30.

The compute bill: Anthropic says it has committed to about $895.4 billion in purchases and leases, "substantially all" for compute and infrastructure, with about $447.5 billion due before the end of 2030 and most of the rest from 2031 to 2045. It added a new warning that some of its compute providers rely on outside financing to buy chips, and if that money dries up or costs more, contracted capacity "may be delayed, repriced, reduced, or not delivered."

What changed since the Oct. 26 filing: The first filing covered only January through June and listed $265.6 billion in non-cancelable purchase commitments, CNBC reported then. The new $895.4 billion figure is a broader count that includes short-term commitments, leases that have not started and deals signed after Sept. 30, so the two numbers are not directly comparable. The quarter also reverses the first half's trend of a shrinking operating loss.

What's still unknown: The share count, the price range, how much Anthropic will raise and the listing date are still blank in the amended filing. Valuations of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion reported earlier are market expectations, not figures in the filing; after the amended filing, some institutional investors urged Anthropic to aim for about $1.5 trillion to $1.6 trillion, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. The third-quarter numbers are unaudited, and terms can change before the SEC declares the filing effective.

Updated Nov. 3, 2026: adds The Wall Street Journal's report on investors' valuation views. Nov. 2: added third-quarter results from Anthropic's amended S-1 (Amendment No. 1), filed Nov. 2. Figures come from the filing; growth rates are US Brief's calculations from the filing's quarterly table and match CNBC's and Reuters' reporting. The filing is unaudited for the quarter, is not yet effective, and still leaves the share count and price range blank. Hero photo shows Dario Amodei at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 (file photo).