Anthropic reported roughly $17 billion in revenue for the third quarter, a 1,127% increase from the same period in 2023, though growth decelerated sharply on a quarter-to-quarter basis. Q3 revenue increased approximately 47%, a steep drop from 144% growth in Q2 and 132% in Q1.
For the nine months ended September 30, 2024, the AI company generated $33.24 billion in revenue, up roughly 1,200% year-over-year. Despite the revenue surge, Anthropic reported a $104 billion net loss for the period, primarily attributable to changes in the fair value of convertible notes and derivative liabilities, compared with a $25.1 billion loss for the same stretch in 2023.
The company filed an amended Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, revealing $895.4 billion in aggregate purchase commitments and lease agreements, substantially all of which is related to compute and infrastructure. Compute and infrastructure expenses increased 329% to $14.4 billion for the nine-month period.
A notable operational milestone detailed in the filing: internal AI usage, valued at the prices Anthropic charges customers, now exceeds the company's monthly employee compensation costs, excluding stock awards. By September, that internal AI consumption had surged more than 250-fold since January. Additionally, over 90% of code added to Anthropic's software in September was written by Claude.
As Anthropic prepares for a potential initial public offering, the filing highlights the company's substantial capital requirements for expanding compute capacity. The company relies on compute infrastructure from Amazon, Google, SpaceX and neoclouds to support its operations. The S-1 includes more than 90 pages of risk factors addressing political headwinds, complex infrastructure needs and the difficulties of balancing safety objectives with commercial goals.
Wall Street has expressed growing concern about the sustainability of AI infrastructure spending, with rising interest rates adding pressure on data center developers and neoclouds. Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon's recent quarterly reports added fuel to those concerns. Anthropic's CEO, Dario Amodei, co-founded the company after departing OpenAI, now its chief rival. OpenAI confidentially filed its prospectus with the SEC in June, with executives signaling a potential 2027 debut.
