KEY POINTS
- Anthropic, the maker of Claude, has filed to go public and is now the world’s most valuable pure-play AI startup at about US$965 billion.
- Trading in pre-IPO contracts on Anthropic and OpenAI has exploded, a sign of huge investor demand ahead of the listings.
- Australians cannot buy Anthropic shares directly yet, so the realistic options are either indirect or higher risk.
- We would favour quality indirect exposure over chasing risky leveraged products and waiting for the IPO pricing.
The race to invest in private AI giants is heating up. Trading in pre-IPO contracts tied to Anthropic and OpenAI has jumped to around US$12 billion in June 2026, up from just US$2 million in March, as investors scramble for exposure before these companies list.
Anthropic, the maker of the Claude AI models, filed confidentially for a US listing on 1 June, with an expected window of October to December 2026. The demand is clearly real. SpaceX has just shown how much appetite there is for these mega-listings, and Anthropic looks like the next one in line. The harder question for Australian investors is how, and whether, to actually play it.
Why Is Everyone Watching the Anthropic IPO?
Anthropic is not a speculative minnow. It is a genuine leader in frontier AI. Its latest funding round valued the company at about US$965 billion, which makes it the world’s most valuable pure-play AI startup, ahead of rival OpenAI at roughly US$852 billion.
The growth behind that number is striking. Anthropic’s annual revenue run rate has jumped from around US$10 billion a year ago to about US$47 billion in May 2026, driven by strong demand for its Claude AI models.
Unlike many AI hopefuls, Anthropic already earns serious money from real customers, which is rare for a company at this stage. It is also backed by some of the biggest names in tech, including Amazon, Google and chipmaker Micron. In our view, that is why the listing will be one of the most important market events of the year, not just another hyped IPO.
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How Can Australians Get Exposure?
Here is the honest answer: there is no clean, direct way to buy Anthropic shares on the ASX today. That leaves three realistic options.
First, pre-IPO contracts. Crypto exchanges like Coinbase and Binance now offer “perpetual futures” that track Anthropic’s value. These are high-risk. They are aimed at eligible non-US traders, use heavy leverage, and providers warn that the price could swing 25% or more on listing day. We would treat them with real caution.
Second, the listed backers. Buying shares in Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) or Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), both major Anthropic investors, gives indirect exposure through any broker that offers US shares.
Third, the AI buildout. ASX names like data centre operator NextDC (ASX:NXT) benefit from the same surge in AI computing demand that Anthropic is driving. Our take: for most investors, quality indirect exposure beats chasing risky synthetic products.
Is This an AI IPO Wave, or an AI IPO Shock?
A lot of money is riding on these listings. The combined private value of Anthropic and OpenAI is about US$1.8 trillion. Fundstrat’s Tom Lee has warned that a wave of huge AI IPOs could cause market turbulence later in 2026. That is the key risk: if sentiment turns, these richly valued listings could fall hard, and the frenzy in early pre-IPO trading suggests prices are already running hot.
The opportunity is real, but so is the hype. For cautious investors, the smart move may be to wait for Anthropic’s prospectus and final pricing before deciding.
