Anthropic, the company behind Claude, is preparing what could be one of the largest IPOs in history — and it is taking the unusual step of formally warning investors that public hostility toward artificial intelligence could derail its business.
According to CNBC, citing people familiar with the matter, Anthropic's IPO prospectus will include negative sentiment toward AI and data center construction as an explicit risk factor. The company has been holding confidential "test-the-water" meetings with bankers and investors in San Francisco, where CFO Krishna Rao has fielded questions about competition, margin pressure from open-source models, and what happens if there is a slowdown in data center development.
The backdrop is striking. A May Gallup poll found that 70% of Americans oppose AI data center construction in their area, with nearly half of respondents "strongly opposed." With U.S. midterm elections less than three months away, politicians from both parties are channeling that anger: Florida Republican Byron Donalds, who won his gubernatorial primary on August 19, has proposed data center restrictions, while Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order imposing harsh development standards.
Anthropic confidentially filed to go public in June in what will be among the biggest offerings on record. The company is valued at close to $1 trillion in private markets and could float at approximately $2 trillion, potentially surpassing SpaceX's $85.7 billion raise earlier this year. Anthropic has topped a $65 billion annual revenue run rate, but compute capacity is directly correlated to revenue for AI labs — making any politically driven slowdown in data center construction a material threat.
The filing represents a notable moment for the AI industry: a leading AI lab acknowledging, in legally binding investor disclosures, that the very infrastructure its business depends on faces organized public opposition.
