The maker of the Claude AI models returned to an operating loss in the third quarter, one quarter after its first operating profit.
- Anthropic posted an operating loss of $567 million for the three months ended September 30.
- The company said $5 billion in compute capacity secured through short-term commitments was a primary driver of the quarterly operating loss.
- Third-quarter revenue was about $17 billion, up 1,127% from a year earlier.
Anthropic (ANT) filed an amended IPO filing on Monday, showing revenue surged 1,127% year over year in the first nine months of 2026, reaching about $33 billion, even as the company returned to an operating loss one quarter after its first operating profit.
The AI company reported almost $17 billion in third-quarter revenue, up from about $11.5 billion a year earlier. However, it swung to a $567 million operating loss, compared with an operating profit of nearly $1 billion in the June quarter.
The company said $5 billion in compute capacity secured through short-term commitments was a primary driver of the quarterly operating loss, which cost significantly more than multiyear commitments, according to the filing.
The amended S-1 comes ahead of an expected initial public offering. Anthropic has not officially announced the date of its public debut, but markets are expecting it before Thanksgiving.
Anthropic has yet to disclose October revenue, an IPO price range, or the size of the offering. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the ANT stock, yet to be officially listed, dipped to ‘neutral’ from ‘bullish’ territory over the past day.
Anthropic’s Revenue Surges, But Compute Costs Rise
Anthropic’s nine-month revenue of about $33 billion represents a roughly 12-fold increase from the same period last year.
That growth came alongside infrastructure and compute expenses rising to $10 billion in the third quarter, according to the amended filing. The filing also puts Anthropic’s total compute commitments at nearly $900 billion, extending through 2045.
Adjusted operating margins for the third quarter were reported at about 15%, down from approximately 19% a quarter earlier.
That compares with adjusted operating margins of about 10% in the first half of the year, based on the original S-1.
October Revenue, Distillation Remain Key Questions
The amended filing did not include October revenue, leaving investors without a fresh data point on whether growth accelerated after the third quarter.
Another unresolved issue is the contribution from AI model distillation, a process in which other developers use a model’s outputs to help train their own systems. The practice can generate revenue for Anthropic, but it has also raised questions about the quality and durability of that demand.
Anthropic has been working to limit distillation-related activity, but the amended filing did not provide additional detail on its impact on revenue.
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