Anthropic's Draft IPO Filing Shows Compute Commitments Above $600 Billion, Up From $518 Billion, WSJ Reports

Since Anthropic's draft IPO prospectus first put its compute commitments at about $518 billion over roughly a decade, the number has grown. Draft S-1 documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal now show Anthropic planning to spend more than $600 billion on computing power.

The figures come from drafts, not a final public filing. The move from about $518 billion to more than $600 billion between versions shows how fast these estimates are moving.

What the drafts show

Of the earlier $518 billion total, about 80% was described as non-cancelable. That means Anthropic owes the money whether it uses the capacity or not.

Two of the biggest slices were spelled out. Google is owed at least $111.1 billion between April 2026 and July 2033. Amazon is due $110 billion between May 2026 and April 2036.

The Google terms leave no wiggle room. The filing says: "If our actual spend falls short, we must pay Google the difference." Parallel terms bind the Amazon agreement.

The commitments also run through Microsoft, Broadcom and AMD, along with others. The AMD deal covers up to two gigawatts of MI450 chips, with deliveries starting in 2027. It also includes a potential $5 billion equity investment tied to milestones.

Anthropic has also lined up data center capacity through contracts with SpaceX, including the Colossus 1 facility.

A separate summary of the Journal's reporting circulating Tuesday, Oct. 20 cites a draft S-1 describing potential compute spending of up to $750 billion, roughly $450 billion in cloud obligations over seven to ten years, and a first-half 2026 net loss of $80.7 billion. Those numbers do not match the more-than-$600 billion figure, and Anthropic has not publicly confirmed any of them. Treat them as unverified until the final filing is public.

The money coming in

The draft's 2025 numbers show the gap between revenue and obligations. Revenue grew twelvefold, from about $400 million to nearly $4.6 billion. Operating expenses hit $12.65 billion, and the operating loss topped $8 billion.

Compute and infrastructure alone cost $7.33 billion, more than half of operating expenses. Cash and short-term investments stood at $20.28 billion on Dec. 31, 2025.

The reported 2025 net loss was $42 billion. About $34 billion of that was an accounting charge reflecting a higher estimated value on earlier financing that can convert into shares. No cash went out for that portion.

Nearly a quarter of 2025 revenue came from two unnamed customers. Anthropic's annualized revenue run rate reportedly topped $65 billion by July 2026.

Scrambling for capacity

The commitments reflect a hunt for chips and data centers that has pulled in rivals. Sources told the Journal that CEO Dario Amodei personally asked Meta's chief AI officer Alexandr Wang for more computing power earlier this year, and that Meta said no. Neither company has confirmed that publicly, and the date, size and structure of the request have not been disclosed.

In July, CNBC cited a person familiar with the matter saying Anthropic was in "very preliminary talks" to lease compute from Meta. The New York Times put a potential deal at about $10 billion. Meta declined to comment.

Bloomberg reported Monday, Oct. 19 that Anthropic is negotiating a $45 billion compute deal with Nscale involving the second facility at the Monarch data center campus in West Virginia. Neither party has announced a signing.

The risk language

The prospectus is blunt about dependence on outside capacity. It warns that if third-party compute is "curtailed, repriced, or terminated," the company's "business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected."

The bull argument is that revenue is growing fast enough to carry the bill. Motley Fool writer Marc Guberti argued that Anthropic's spending goals indicate a long-term AI tailwind, and pointed to TrendForce's forecast that high-bandwidth memory prices will rise 121% in 2027. Another Motley Fool writer, Catie Hogan, said that at a $65 billion run rate, $518 billion spread over a decade "doesn't seem so outrageous."

Hogan drew the opposite conclusion about the stock. Citing the two-customer concentration and the lack of long-term contracts at many larger clients, she said she would stay on the sidelines. Anthropic is reportedly aiming for a $2 trillion valuation at IPO.

What to watch

The AMD arrangement is an early test. MI450 deliveries are slated for 2027, and the $5 billion equity piece depends on milestones being hit.

The larger question is which number survives into the final public S-1: $518 billion, more than $600 billion, or something closer to $750 billion. Anthropic has not said.