Nvidia plans $10 billion investment in Anthropic after IPO

The New York Times reported, based on its account of Anthropic’s investor prospectus, that Nvidia plans to invest about $10 billion immediately after Anthropic’s IPO.[1] The planned investment would equal roughly 10% of the total new cash Anthropic expects to raise this month, including through the IPO.[1] Separately, an SEC filing describes an aggregate $26 billion of Class N common stock agreed to be purchased in a private placement.[2] The filing names Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom, Google, Micron, Microsoft and TSMC Partners as participants.[2] The placement is contingent on completion of the IPO and certain other conditions, and is scheduled to close immediately afterward.[2]

Anthropic’s proposed IPO consists of 825 million Class A shares.[3] Anthropic is offering 801,351,354 shares, while existing stockholders are offering 23,648,646; Anthropic says it will not receive proceeds from the shares sold by those stockholders.[3] The company says the expected IPO price range is $70 to $78 per share and that it has applied to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol ANT.[3] It also expects to give underwriters a 30-day option to buy up to 123.75 million additional Class A shares.[3] The private-placement shares are Class N, priced at the IPO price, and have no voting rights except where required by law.[2]

The New York Times described the new financial commitment as the largest among commitments from several major companies to Anthropic.[1] The paper also reported that Nvidia and Anthropic had become valuable companies while doing relatively little business together, and that their chief executives had publicly disagreed over U.S. AI regulation.[1] At the same time, Nvidia relies on selling advanced AI chips to Anthropic and to companies that provide Anthropic with computing power, according to the report.[1] Interconnected Capital chief investment officer Kevin S. Xu said the companies’ futures were more intertwined than before.[1]

The announced financing links an IPO-dependent private placement with Anthropic’s public offering, but the filing makes the placement subject to certain other conditions as well as IPO completion.[2] The Class N shares’ lack of voting rights, except where required by law, is a separate feature from their IPO-linked price.[2] Anthropic states that its purpose includes the responsible development and maintenance of advanced AI for humanity’s long-term benefit.[2] The available details describe the proposed financing and share terms; they do not establish how much business the companies will do together in the future.[1]