SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 7, 2026, 05:19 (PST)
Anthropic is closing in on a funding round that could bring in over $20 billion, with a potential close as early as next week, Bloomberg News reported Friday. This deal would peg the Claude chatbot developer at around $350 billion. Reuters has yet to confirm the report, and Anthropic didn’t respond to requests for comment. (Reuters)
Investor cash is funneling into a tight group of AI model developers that demand massive compute resources. Reuters highlighted OpenAI’s current funding round, pegged at over $800 billion, alongside Elon Musk’s SpaceX-xAI merger as prime examples of how AI ventures are drawing capital. At Cisco’s AI Summit in San Francisco, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said, “You let a thousand flowers bloom,” before expressing concerns about eventual returns. (Reuters)
That flood of cash is raising fresh questions about who actually profits from AI—and who’s getting left behind. “The market is no longer tolerating spending for spending’s sake,” Mark Hawtin, Liontrust’s head of global equities, told Reuters, as investors started separating AI “enablers” from the firms they expect to be disrupted. (Reuters)
In January, Reuters reported that Sequoia Capital is gearing up to team with Singapore’s sovereign fund GIC and investment firm Coatue in a fundraising round potentially hitting $25 billion, valuing the company around $350 billion, according to a Financial Times scoop. Reuters also noted that Anthropic had already pulled in $13 billion at a $183 billion valuation and locked in commitments worth up to $15 billion from Microsoft and Nvidia. (Reuters)
Amazon’s latest annual report filed with U.S. regulators reveals how it values its stake in Anthropic. The company reported holding around $14.8 billion in nonvoting preferred stock at year-end. Meanwhile, it pegged the fair value of its convertible notes—debt that can be converted into equity—at roughly $45.8 billion. Amazon classified these notes as “Level 3” assets, indicating their valuation depends on internal models and inputs that aren’t easily observable. (SEC)
Anthropic isn’t waiting for a funding round to throw shade at bigger players. The company bought Super Bowl ad spots with the message, “Ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude,” directly targeting OpenAI’s plan to monetize ChatGPT with ads. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called the commercial “deceptive” on X, Reuters reported. According to Reuters, neither company has turned a profit yet as they compete for users and business clients, while also eyeing IPOs. (Reuters)
The round isn’t finalized yet. Late-stage deals often change abruptly, and with a $350 billion valuation, there’s barely any margin for a dip in demand or a steep cutback in AI budgets.
A funding-round valuation reflects the share price investors agree on; it doesn’t represent the actual cash raised. Even if the haul tops $20 billion, significant expenses for chips, data, and staff still need covering.
Anthropic’s reasoning is straightforward: more cash means extra time and increased computing capacity in a rapidly evolving, competitive space. Investors are wagering that clients will stay loyal—and keep paying—before the costs of model development catch up.
Investors are keeping an eye on whether the financing wraps up as scheduled in the reports, and if it sets a precedent for upcoming mega-rounds in artificial intelligence.
