OpenAI and Anthropic both filed confidential IPO paperwork with US regulators in June 2026. OpenAI submitted its draft S-1 to the SEC and announced the filing publicly, stating that timing remains undecided and may be delayed because “there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company.” Anthropic filed approximately a week earlier. Both companies are reportedly targeting valuations above $1 trillion.

What happened

OpenAI published a brief announcement confirming it had submitted a confidential S-1 registration statement to the SEC. The company wrote: “We have not decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company. But it’s a complicated set of tradeoffs and this gives us the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best.”

Anthropic filed its confidential IPO paperwork approximately a week before OpenAI, according to multiple reports. Anthropic has not made a public announcement about the filing. The company raised a $65 billion Series H at a $965 billion post-money valuation in May 2026, the same month it said run-rate revenue had crossed $47 billion.

Subsequent reporting suggests OpenAI may delay its public debut into 2027, citing market conditions and whether they can support a $1 trillion-plus valuation. Anthropic is reportedly still tracking toward a late-2026 listing.

Why it matters for builders

These filings do not change what you can build today, but they signal where the industry is headed.

A public offering forces disclosure. Once either company files publicly, builders will have audited financials, revenue breakdowns by segment, customer concentration data, and risk factors that are currently opaque. That information matters if you are building on their APIs and want to understand your vendor’s sustainability and incentives.

The valuation targets also reflect how much capital frontier AI now requires. Both companies are raising and spending at a scale that only a handful of organizations can sustain. That concentration shapes who can build frontier models and how pricing and roadmaps will evolve. If you depend on these APIs, keep your integration portable where you can.

Sources

  • OpenAI, “Confidential submission of draft S-1 to the SEC” (June 2026): https://openai.com/index/openai-submits-confidential-s-1/
  • Morningstar, “What a Delayed OpenAI IPO Would Tell Investors” (July 2026)
  • Barchart, “OpenAI, Anthropic IPO: What’s Confirmed, What’s Still Speculation” (July 2026)

Further reading