Anthropic's $965B valuation overtakes OpenAI's $852B in private markets

Anthropic has dethroned OpenAI in private markets, achieving a $965 billion valuation after a massive $65 billion Series H round led by Altimeter Capital and Sequoia Capital. That edges out OpenAI's most recent private valuation of $852 billion. The surge is attributed to the rapid adoption of its enterprise software, particularly Claude Code, which is being integrated by major corporations for coding assistance and workflow automation. The valuation gap underscores the market's appetite for AI-first companies that promise global scalability and continuous cost reduction.

A striking comparison emerges with Walmart: the retail giant generates nearly 15 times Anthropic's annual revenue yet carries a similar or slightly lower market capitalization. This disparity illustrates how public markets value software businesses—particularly AI startups—on projected future earnings and technology multipliers rather than current physical assets. Both Anthropic and OpenAI have now confidentially filed for Initial Public Offerings. These IPOs will force full transparency on audited margins, revealing whether these capital-intensive AI firms can sustain trillion-dollar valuations while burning billions on infrastructure.