The biggest ever

Bloomberg’s chart illustrates the extraordinary scale of the AI investment boom. Anthropic, the company behind Claude, is preparing an IPO that could raise as much as $100 billion, surpassing SpaceX’s previous record of approximately $86 billion.
Three observations come to mind.
First, this reflects the genuine commercial value of Claude. Anthropic generated $16.3 billion in revenues during the first six months of 2026, compared with $4.6 billion for the entire year 2025. Few companies have ever experienced such explosive growth.
Second, it highlights the enormous capital requirements of artificial intelligence. Anthropic has entered into computing and infrastructure arrangements involving hundreds of billions of dollars in potential spending over the coming years. Despite its extraordinary revenue growth, the company still reported an operating loss of nearly $700 million in the first half of 2026, although it achieved operating profitability in the second quarter.
Third, and perhaps most importantly, it illustrates how far the AI investment frenzy has progressed. A potential valuation approaching $2 trillion reflects tremendous expectations about future profitability, technological leadership and continued growth.
There is no doubt that AI is transforming our economies. But technological revolutions do not automatically translate into attractive investment returns. History repeatedly reminds us that even the most successful technologies can generate disappointing returns when investors pay too much for future expectations.
The question is no longer whether AI will create enormous economic value, but how much of that value will ultimately accrue to shareholders relative to the staggering amounts of capital being committed today.