Anthropic in talks for funding at a valuation as high as $950 billion, which would make it bigger than OpenAI

OpenAI’s dominance in the generative-AI boom once seemed inevitable. As the first out of the gate with a usable generative-AI chatbot, ChatGPT gobbled up mindshare, securing its place as the de facto AI app that practically turned its name into a verb.

Everyone else was chasing OpenAI as it plowed ahead with plans to build massive data centers all over the world, and kept cranking out new models at an impressive pace. But hot on OpenAI’s tail was Anthropic, founded by a group of ex-OpenAI researchers, including its CEO, Dario Amodei.

Now, a once unthinkable threshold is on the verge of being crossed in the battle to dominate AI. The New York Times reports that Anthropic is in talks to raise between $30 billion and $50 billion with a staggering valuation of up to $950 billion. That amount — if finalized in the deal — would put Anthropic well ahead of OpenAI’s latest reported valuation of $825 billion.

Anthropic’s steady focus on productivity and coding skills has paid off. While OpenAI was distracted with side quests like web browsers and video apps like Sora, enterprise users fell in love with Claude Code. This is starting to show up in the data.

Today Ramp reports that for the first time, more business users are using Anthropic’s AI than OpenAI’s.

The stumble comes at a perilous time for OpenAI, as its CEO, Sam Altman, took the stand again this week in a trial to decide a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk that could potentially fire Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman, as well as undo the company’s recent restructuring into a for-profit company.

The speed at which Anthropic’s valuation has skyrocketed is incredible. Just over a year ago, Anthropic was valued at $61.5 billion. If the valuation from today’s report holds, Anthropic’s value will have increased by more that 1,445% in a year.