Artificial intelligence (AI) corporation Anthropic, which is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO), appears set to post an adjusted operating profit for a second straight quarter.
The Financial Times (FT) reported on the 13th (local time) that Anthropic told investors its adjusted operating profit, excluding some expense such as stock-based compensation, will be in the black for two consecutive quarters.
According to multiple sources familiar with the matter, Anthropic shared this earnings outlook with some shareholders to dispel concerns about cash burn. Anthropic was said to have explained that its gross margin exceeds 80% before excluding revenue sharing with partners such as Amazon and AI model training expense.
Anthropic's second-quarter revenue surged 14-fold year over year to $11.5 billion (about 15.5 trillion won). As a result, adjusted operating profit turned positive for the first time.
Annualized revenue jumped from $9.0 billion at the end of last year to $65.0 billion as of the end of July.
Joy Brookhart, a Semianalysis researcher, said, "If Anthropic maintains this margin and growth, it will be very hard to catch up with Anthropic, which has vast computing resources."
Brookhart added that investors expect Anthropic's annualized revenue to reach $120.0 billion (about 161 trillion won) by the end of this year and to grow to nearly triple that by the end of next year.
Anthropic had been expected to release a prospectus for its IPO last week, but it shared it only with some investors, according to sources.
FT noted, "Demands to slow or halt AI development are erupting in complicated ways, making it complicated to project the direction of the business," adding, "Slowing development could save billions of dollars in model-training expense but would give competitors room to catch up."
Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei urged on the 12th that the pace of AI development should be moderated, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk also expressed agreement.
In an interview with U.S. business magazine Fortune, Altman said, "We will keep OpenAI private this year," adding, "Concerns about AI safety are growing, so this year is an inappropriate time to list."