Anthropic, the company behind the AI assistant Claude, is preparing for what could be the biggest stock market debut in history, with a listing that may value it at more than $2 trillion. Its IPO filing also offers a rare look at what it costs to stay at the front of the AI race.
What's going on here?
The filing shows a business growing at an extraordinary pace. Revenue rose 12-fold in 2025 to nearly $4.6 billion USD, then reached $11.5 billion in the second quarter of this year alone. Costs have climbed too. Last year, Anthropic spent $7.33 billion on computing power, more than half of its $12.65 billion in operating costs.
Anthropic may also be heading into a cooler US IPO market. Two companies shelved their listings in late September, and half of this year's ten biggest debuts are trading below their offer prices. Rising bond yields make things tricky too: when safe government bonds pay above 5%, investors may be pickier about where they put their money.
The theme reaches well beyond one firm: US spending on AI infrastructure could hit $10.3 trillion by 2032, a bigger share of the economy than even the railroad boom of the 1800s. With that much riding on it, Anthropic's debut could be a real-time read on how much the market is willing to pay for AI's potential.
(For expert-vetted ETFs that invest across the AI theme, see Flexible Portfolios.)
In Other News: Global bonds aren’t showing signs of yielding just yet
Governments are paying more to borrow than they have in nearly two decades. The global bond sell-off has deepened, pushing the 10-year US Treasury yield to 5.25% last week and the average yield on government debt worldwide to just shy of 4%.
A bond yield has two sides: what investors earn for lending to a government or company, and what it costs that borrower to take the loan. The 10-year US Treasury yield sets the tone for borrowing costs worldwide, and it’s been climbing for most of the year, from 3.97% when the conflict in Iran broke out seven months ago.
Inflation has played a big role. With the Strait of Hormuz still largely shut, oil has stayed expensive, pushing up the cost of shipping, manufacturing, and eventually, what we buy.
Rising prices erode the value of a bond's fixed interest payments, so lenders demand higher yields to compensate. Higher rates also mean new bonds pay more, leaving older bonds less attractive. Meanwhile, sticky inflation pushed the Federal Reserve to raise rates in September for the first time since 2023, with another hike signalled before the year’s end.
Other markets are under the same pressure: Japan's 10-year yield hit its highest since 1996, while French and German yields reached roughly 15-year highs.
What's the takeaway here?
The sell-off has stung existing bondholders, but for new buyers, yields haven't looked this high in years. The yield you lock in is one of the best guides to what a bond will return if you hold it to maturity, and today's yields are a far cry from those of the ultra-low-rate 2010s. Wherever yields go from here, bonds work best as part of a diversified portfolio.
(For more on global interest rates and rising bond yields, read our latest CIO Insights.)
Past performance is not an indicator of future returns. These articles were written in collaboration with Finimize.
