Anthropic may report first operating profit in June quarter: Report
San Francisco, May 21
,: Anthropic may report its first profitable quarter as it expects the revenue to more than double at $10.9 billion in the June quarter, according to Reuters. The AI player could report an operating profit of $559 million, the report quoted a person familiar with the development.
The company had reported a revenue of $4.8 billion in the March quarter.
The San Francisco-based startup informed investors as part of latest funding round about the financials. The company's explosive growth has been driven by sales of its AI tools including the popular Claude AI model which has generated lot of buzz as users test its capability to carry out 'agentic' tasks.
The operating profit in June may not extend for the entire year as the company ramps us spending for its AI compute requirements. Anthropic's ongoing funding round could see its overall valuation zoom past that of OpenAI, WSJ reported. Both companies along with SpaceX are preparing for public listing that could see each of them being valued at more than a trillion dollars, according to the WSJ report.
Anthropic's expected profit in the June quarter has surprised many as AI needs huge spending for compute infrastructure. The SpaceX IPO filing revealed that Anthropic would pay Elon Musk's space and AI company $1.25 billion dollars a month for access to its computing power which includes AI training data center clusters, Colossus and Colossus II, Reuters reported.
Anthropic's relationship with the Trump administration had taken a hit recently as it didn't agree to the defence department's demand for its tools to be allowed for 'lawful uses'. Trump had asked all the federal agencies to snap any ties with Anthropic. However, things have likely improved since then, the WSJ report said.
Anthropic's compute spending is also expected to improve as it scales. Its business model also helps in improving the metrics as it has a limited consumer business compared to OpenAI which has to subsidise the vast free users of its AI model ChatGPT. Anthropic uses chips from Google and Amazon which cost less compared to the ones developed by Nvidia.
Its CEO Dario Amodei had recently said that the company's growth had become "too hard to handle" and that he hopes for more "normal growth".
— ANI
Reader Comments
Wow, $1.25 billion a month to SpaceX for compute power! That's mind-boggling. In India, we're still struggling with basic cloud infrastructure costs. But it's good to see AI companies growing globally – hopefully it trickles down to more affordable tools for everyone. The defence department issue is concerning though.
Taking a stand against 'lawful uses' for defence is commendable. Not many companies push back on government demands like that. It's refreshing to see ethical considerations in AI development, even if it costs them business. The Trillion-dollar club race between OpenAI, SpaceX and Anthropic is going to be epic! 🚀
"Too hard to handle" growth – that's a nice problem to have! As someone working in Indian IT, I can appreciate how scaling AI infrastructure is a nightmare. But the reliance on GPUs from Google/Amazon vs Nvidia is smart. We need similar cost-effective solutions for India's AI startups. Hope the profitability sustains beyond June.
The fact that they're using cheaper Google/Amazon chips instead of Nvidia is smart. But I'm curious about the sustainability of paying SpaceX $1.25B/month – that's enormous for any company. Good to see them being profitable though, unlike many AI hypes. Let's see if they can maintain it through the year.
The Trump administration tension is interesting – shows how geopolitical factors affect even AI companies. But honestly, $10.9B revenue in a quarter is insane! In India, we're still debating basic AI adoption. Claude is really good though; I use it for content
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