Anthropic IPO Filing Casts Shadow Over SpaceX Valuation Ahead of Debut

Anthropic has filed confidentially for an initial public offering, a move that could see the artificial intelligence firm list on the stock market within months. The filing arrives as the broader market anticipates 2026 to be the largest year for IPOs in history, with OpenAI also targeting a public debut by the end of the year. However, the most immediate focus for investors is SpaceX, which is lined up to go public as soon as next week, targeting June 12 as its debut date.

SpaceX’s S-1 prospectus reveals trailing revenue of $19.3 billion over the last four quarters, with first-quarter revenue growth of just 15%. The company is aiming to raise approximately $75 billion at a $2 trillion valuation, which would make it the seventh-most valuable company in the United States. Based on its trailing revenue, this target implies a price-to-sales ratio of 100, a figure that would rise to 120 or higher if the $2 trillion valuation is met. This multiple significantly exceeds those of the "Magnificent Seven" tech companies, which serve as the primary benchmark for valuation metrics in the current market.

The valuation challenge is compounded by SpaceX’s profitability metrics. The company reported a GAAP operating loss of $1.9 billion in the first quarter, a figure largely attributed to its acquisition of xAI. The AI segment, which includes the Grok chatbot and the X social media platform, reported a loss of $2.5 billion in Q1 due to costs associated with research and development, GPUs, cloud computing, and data centre infrastructure. In February, a merger valued legacy SpaceX at $1 trillion and xAI at $250 billion, with xAI generating $818 million in revenue during the first quarter.

In contrast, Anthropic closed a $65 billion funding round that valued the company at $965 billion. The firm reported a run-rate revenue of $47 billion, with revenue more than doubling in recent periods. This scale results in a price-to-sales ratio of approximately 20, substantially lower than both xAI and SpaceX. Furthermore, Anthropic targets an operating profit of $559 million on $10.9 billion in revenue for the second quarter, signalling a path to profitability that SpaceX has not yet demonstrated on a GAAP basis.

The comparative analysis suggests that SpaceX and its xAI segment are overvalued relative to Anthropic’s stronger financial metrics and growth trajectory. While SpaceX’s space exploration business remains a key draw for investors, the peer comparison with Anthropic highlights that the aerospace giant is growing slowly relative to its peers of a similar valuation. With Anthropic set to go public shortly after SpaceX, the filing provides investors with a clearer benchmark for valuing the AI sector ahead of the broader market debut.