What the new AI IPO race means
The new AI IPO race refers to a wave of leading artificial intelligence startups preparing stock listings to secure capital, validate trillion-level valuations, reward employees with liquidity, and prove that their rapid user and revenue growth can support long-term public company expectations. OpenAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity now sit at the center of this moment. OpenAI has confidentially filed for a US initial public offering and, according to multiple reports, is targeting a valuation of up to USD 1 trillion (approx. RM4.6 trillion). Anthropic has also submitted a confidential filing after a funding round that reportedly valued it at USD 965 billion (approx. RM4.4 trillion). Perplexity, valued at USD 20 billion (approx. RM92 billion) after its latest round, is mapping out a later listing. Together, they show how AI company IPO strategies are shaped by fierce competition, huge capital needs, and a hot but untested public market for generative AI.
Inside OpenAI’s stock listing strategy and the valuation debate
OpenAI’s confidential S-1 signals the most closely watched AI company IPO of this cycle. The ChatGPT maker has not set the size or timing of its stock listing, saying “it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company.” Yet its ambitions are clear: earlier reporting suggested a valuation target of up to USD 1 trillion (approx. RM4.6 trillion), after raising USD 110 billion (approx. RM506 billion) at an USD 840 billion (approx. RM3.9 trillion) valuation from investors including SoftBank, Amazon, and Nvidia. With more than 900 million weekly active users and over 50 million consumer subscribers, bulls argue that AI valuation trends reflect extraordinary gross margins and platform scale. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said OpenAI’s move shows “the floodgates for the IPO market are officially open,” and that the company is racing Anthropic to tap public capital.
Anthropic’s positioning and the market’s search for the ‘safer’ AI bet
Anthropic has quietly become a central character in the AI company IPO story. The Claude Code developer filed confidentially for a US IPO after a funding round that valued it at USD 965 billion (approx. RM4.4 trillion). Some investors see it as the more focused enterprise play compared with OpenAI. Dan Niles of Niles Investment Management told CNBC he views Anthropic favorably, saying the company reached profitability in the second quarter and that its revenues are “ramping like nothing you’ve ever seen in history for a company of that size.” In his view, OpenAI is “stuck between” Google in consumer AI and Anthropic in corporate AI. That narrative matters for a startup public offering: if markets reward discipline, clearer business lines, and earlier profitability, Anthropic’s listing could set a template for how later-stage AI labs frame their numbers and strategy to investors.
Perplexity’s 2028 IPO plan and what it signals
Perplexity offers a different playbook: a fixed, longer runway before its AI company IPO. CEO Aravind Srinivas told CNBC that, “agnostic of these two companies, we were planning for something in 2028, so that still remains the case,” even as OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX rush to market. The AI-powered search startup, which competes with Google and AI browsers like OpenAI’s Atlas, reached a USD 20 billion (approx. RM92 billion) valuation after a USD 200 million (approx. RM920 million) round. Its Comet browser scrapes the web to deliver conversational answers, while its “Computer” agent aims to act as a general-purpose digital worker. Srinivas admits there will be “ripple effects” if early AI IPOs disappoint, but he argues Perplexity benefits when frontier models advance, saying that every improvement in AI makes Perplexity better. That stance highlights a strategy of riding platform progress while building a differentiated search and agent layer before going public.
How AI valuation trends and investor sentiment shape the rush
Behind these IPO decisions sits an extraordinary valuation environment and hunger for exposure to generative AI. Gregory Allen of Decision Tree Research notes that valuations around USD 1 trillion (approx. RM4.6 trillion) for OpenAI, Anthropic, and even SpaceX are “akin to an annuity that kicks out USD 45 billion (approx. RM207 billion) a year every year forever.” SpaceX, which includes xAI and aims to raise USD 75 billion (approx. RM345 billion) at a USD 1.75 trillion (approx. RM8.1 trillion) valuation, is widely seen as a leading indicator. The company disclosed a net loss of USD 4.28 billion (approx. RM19.7 billion) on USD 4.69 billion (approx. RM21.6 billion) in revenue for a recent quarter, and some analysts warn about lofty expectations. Yet investors like Michael Fertik say they are “rooting for the OpenAIs and Anthropics,” hoping strong debuts create a “gushing torrent of liquidity” and a friendlier market for future startup public offerings.
