Costs outpacing revenue
According to figures in Anthropic's amended IPO filing, compute costs accounted for 58% of revenue in the third quarter, up from 48% in the previous quarter. In other words, as the company earns more, a larger share of that revenue goes toward training and running its models.
Revenue reached $17bn
Over the same period, revenue climbed from $11.6bn to $17bn. That points to strong growth, but the fact that compute expenses are rising faster than revenue lays bare the cost of that growth.
Why it matters
Compute is the single largest expense for companies building large language models. A rising share reignites the debate over when AI companies will reach profitability as they scale. Investors are expected to watch this closely as Anthropic's IPO process continues.
