Anthropic’s $518 Billion AI Gamble

Anthropic is betting more than half a trillion dollars that demand for artificial intelligence will eventually outrun the world's available computing power.

The maker of Claude has committed to at least US$518 billion in cloud computing, chips and other infrastructure over the next decade, according to a confidential IPO prospectus reviewed by Reuters. About 80 percent of those commitments either cannot be cancelled or must be paid regardless of how much computing capacity Anthropic actually uses.

The numbers are enormous. Anthropic has committed at least US$111.1 billion to Google, US$110 billion to Amazon and US$31.4 billion to Microsoft. It also carries about US$161.2 billion in largely non-cancellable Broadcom-related equipment leases.

Behind the spending is a simple belief: Anthropic expects computing power, rather than customers, to become the main constraint on how quickly its AI business can grow.

Its current finances show just how expensive that race already is.

Revenue surged twelvefold to US$4.59 billion in 2025, while operating expenses reached US$12.65 billion. That left Anthropic with an operating loss of US$8.06 billion. Computing and infrastructure alone cost US$7.33 billion.

Then there is the headline number: Anthropic reported a net loss of nearly US$42 billion.

It did not, however, burn through US$42 billion in cash.

Roughly US$34 billion of that loss came from a non-cash accounting charge linked to earlier investor financing that can eventually convert into Anthropic shares.

Imagine an investor puts US$1 billion into Anthropic through financing that can later turn into shares. As Anthropic becomes more valuable, the estimated value of that investor's right to receive those shares can also rise. If the financing is later valued at US$5 billion instead of US$1 billion, Anthropic may have to recognise the US$4 billion increase as an accounting loss.

No US$4 billion cheque is written, and no US$4 billion leaves Anthropic's bank account. What changed was the accounting value placed on the investor's claim.

That effect, multiplied across Anthropic's earlier financing arrangements, produced most of the difference between its US$8.06 billion operating loss and its nearly US$42 billion reported net loss.

The company is now preparing for a possible stock-market listing at a valuation of more than US$2 trillion.

But the bigger number may still be US$518 billion.

Anthropic is effectively locking in the infrastructure for an AI market it expects to keep expanding. If demand grows as the company expects, that capacity could become a major advantage.

If it does not, much of the bill still has to be paid.