The artificial intelligence company Anthropic is preparing to submit its initial public offering paperwork, potentially filing its prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as early as next week. According to sources familiar with the matter, Morgan Stanley is expected to secure the crucial "lead left" underwriter position, while Goldman Sachs is anticipated to act as the stabilizing agent for the IPO—a lucrative mandate responsible for overseeing trading during the critical early period after Anthropic goes public. The selections have not been finalized and remain subject to change.

Morgan Stanley has in recent weeks led discussions with potential investors regarding Anthropic's offering pricing. Other banks expected to participate in the IPO include JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Barclays, all of which have previously provided debt financing to Anthropic. In a notable parallel, Goldman Sachs secured the lead role in SpaceX's IPO in June, with Morgan Stanley serving as the stabilizing agent for that transaction—each bank earned $100 million from the $500 million in underwriting fees generated by SpaceX's offering.

Anthropic, the developer of the chatbot Claude, is projected to achieve a listing valuation of $2 trillion or higher. Should this materialize, early investors would unlock tens of billions of dollars in paper gains. The company's current valuation already exceeds $900 billion, with investors anticipating it could surpass SpaceX—which listed at a $1.78 trillion valuation and raised $86 billion—to become the largest IPO in history. Multiple investors have previously expressed expectations consistent with these figures, according to earlier reports.

Sources indicate that Anthropic is preparing to hold roadshow presentations around the end of September. If the timeline proceeds as planned, the company would begin trading in New York in late September or early October. The company posted annualized revenue of $65 billion in July, up from $47 billion in May, though this fell short of the most optimistic investor projections—some had anticipated annualized sales exceeding $80 billion.

Anthropic's biggest competitor, OpenAI, released its latest AI model this week, which it calls the "world's most intelligent," and analysts suggest this could place pressure on Anthropic's valuation. With AI-related stocks experiencing significant price volatility, Anthropic's public market debut will serve as a key barometer for the sector. Anthropic and Goldman Sachs declined to comment, while Morgan Stanley did not immediately respond to requests for comment.