Anthropic is getting ready to go public, and its paperwork will come with a warning label.
The AI company, whose private-market worth is nearly $1 trillion, is expected to submit its IPO prospectus within the next few weeks. That document will list negative public sentiment toward AI and data centers as a risk factor, according to CNBC sources who asked to remain anonymous because the talks were confidential.
Anthropic has been moving at a pace that would make most companies dizzy. It confidentially filed for its IPO in June, and the listing is expected to be among the largest on record.
The company's current pace implies more than $65 billion in annual revenue, a milestone it recently crossed. That kind of growth explains why investors think the company could list at about a $2 trillion valuation, which would blow past the $85.7 billion that Elon Musk's AI business raised two months ago. That deal, with the underwriters' option included, was the largest offering to date.
Anthropic did not comment on the IPO plans.
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Anthropic's rise mirrors the broader AI boom, but it also exposes the tension between breakneck infrastructure growth and local opposition. The company's models require enormous computing capacity, and that capacity is built in communities that are increasingly saying no.
The company's growth depends on one thing: computing capacity. For AI labs like Anthropic, more computing power means more revenue, because the models need serious hardware to train and run.
That is why Anthropic, like OpenAI, is pushing its infrastructure partners to expand quickly. Big cloud providers are pouring hundreds of billions into data-center construction and AI chips this year.
But a lot of people do not want those data centers in their backyard. A Gallup survey published in May found seven in 10 Americans oppose AI data-center construction near them. Close to half of all respondents were strongly against it, while roughly a quarter supported it.
That public resistance is turning into political action. Lawmakers from both parties are already pushing back on data-center development, with the midterm elections fast approaching. In Florida, Rep. Byron Donalds - Tuesday's Republican gubernatorial primary winner - has introduced limits on data-center projects there. That same day, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order imposing strict data-center development standards.
Companies are required to include risk-factor disclosures in IPO documents for investor information and legal protection. Such filings often warn that adverse global economic and geopolitical conditions could hurt a company's business. For Anthropic, the warning is more specific: the backlash could slow data-center construction, which could slow its exceptional growth.
Anthropic's CFO, Krishna Rao, has already fielded investor questions about competition, shrinking margins from open-source models, and the impact of a data-center construction slowdown during early pre-IPO meetings in San Francisco.
The bottom line: the company's growth story is tied to its ability to build fast, but the people who live near those building sites have other ideas. If that tension slows construction, it could hit Anthropic's revenue directly.
For investors, this is a reminder that even the hottest AI story has a human element. The technology may be moving at light speed, but the communities hosting it get a say too. How that plays out could shape not just Anthropic's future, but the value of your stake in the AI boom.
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