Anthropic's Q3 revenue growth slows, with financing risks emerging over nearly RMB900 billion in compute commitments ahead of IPO.

Anthropic, the artificial intelligence startup, saw third-quarter revenue growth slow sharply, and the company warned in a filing that new risks are emerging for the computing power underpinning its rapid expansion. Ahead of its closely watched initial public offering (IPO), investors may have one more concern to weigh. The disclosures appeared in a revised S-1 filing submitted on Monday. The filing showed that Anthropic's net loss narrowed and revenue rose 47% quarter over quarter to US$16.96 billion, but growth deceleratedrevenue had grown 144% quarter over quarter in the second quarter. Anthropic's compute commitments with partners including Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN.US) and Alphabet Inc. Class C under Alphabet (GOOGL.US) approach US$900 billion, underscoring that its rapid growth depends on a large amount of future capacity, some of which relies on financing arrangements the company cannot control. "Some of our compute suppliers and infrastructure partners rely on third-party financing or credit support to procure chips and develop capacity; if such financing or support becomes unavailable or more costly, contracted capacity may be delayed, repriced, reduced, or undeliverable," Anthropic said in the filing. Wall Street is increasingly uneasy about the debt-driven AI buildout: record borrowing for data centers, chips and other infrastructure has widened technology bond spreads and forced issuers to offer higher premiums to attract investors. Anthropic is preparing to formally launch share marketing to potential investors next week. After the company disclosed financial details at a recent investor event, some existing and potential investors are weighing a US$1.5 trillion valuation, below the previous level of about US$2 trillion. "We will be watching when this capacity becomes available, when payments begin, and how revenue grows relative to these obligations," said Evan Schlossman and Willy Lee, principals at venture capital firm Neostellar, referring to Anthropic's future procurement and lease commitments. Anthropic's filing came as Monday's rebound in U.S. stocks faded and technology shares resumed their selloff, highlighting investor anxiety about the AI boom. Amazon.com, Inc. still closed higher that day, while Alphabet closed flat. Anthropic said that as its AI models take on a growing share of research and development work, the company is considering stronger human oversight of some R&D decisions. The company has previously warned that advanced models could develop unexpected capabilities, recognize that they are being evaluated, and act in ways that are harder to monitor. Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei has called for slowing the pace of model development. Financial details under review The company expects that nearly half of its US$895.4 billion in spending commitments related to AI infrastructure buildout will occur before December 31, 2030; about US$69.8 billion of that will come due within 12 months after September 30 of this year. Anthropic disclosed that it incurred US$5 billion in additional compute costs this quarter, weighing on efficiency improvements and reducing revenue generated per dollar of compute compared with the previous quarter. "I don't think these results are concerning, but I do expect some pressure on growth and margins to be reflected in the final IPO valuation," said Matt Kennedy, senior strategist at Renaissance Capital, which focuses on IPO research and ETFs. As of September 30, more than 11,900 customers had contributed at least US$100,000 in revenue to Anthropic on a trailing-12-month basis, up from more than 1,500 at the end of 2025. Net loss narrowed to US$23.29 billion from US$66.3 billion in the previous quarter. The company recorded an operating loss of US$567 million in the third quarter, compared with operating income of US$974 million in the second quarter. Anthropic's operating loss reflects the company's operating costs, including compute infrastructure and research investment; its net loss also includes non-operating items related to bonds convertible into company shares.