Goldman sees 2030 sales at $685 billion, with free cash flow turning positive that year

The Anthropic logo. [Reuters]
The Anthropic logo. [Reuters]

Goldman Sachs, the lead underwriter for Anthropic's initial public offering, has projected that the AI company's sales will grow 150-fold within five years.

Goldman verbally presented a model to potential investors estimating Anthropic's 2030 sales at around $685 billion, the Financial Times and Bloomberg reported Tuesday (local time). The scenario envisions revenue climbing steeply from $4.59 billion last year to $52 billion this year, $136 billion next year and $442 billion in 2029. No forecast for 2028 was disclosed.

The 2030 projection approaches Amazon's expected sales this year of around $830 billion, meaning Anthropic would rank among the world's largest companies by revenue if the target is met.

Anthropic's annualized revenue reached $81 billion last month, up $10 billion in a single month.

Profitability, however, remains a distant prospect. Goldman projects Anthropic's free cash flow will run at a deficit of $12.8 billion in the fourth quarter of this year and $65.7 billion next year before swinging to a surplus of $33.6 billion in 2030. Operating losses are expected to peak at $40.4 billion in 2027 before turning positive in 2029.

Anthropic has committed to spending around $900 billion on computing capacity over the coming years.

The company plans to set its IPO price Nov. 18 and begin trading on NASDAQ the following day.

Anthropic aims to raise a total of $90.4 billion, including $26 billion in private placements to investors such as Nvidia and Google. At the top of its offering price range, the company's valuation stands at approximately $1.4 trillion.

The Financial Times noted that the listing comes amid growing concerns about a slowdown in AI data center investment after the Democratic Party swept both chambers of Congress in last week's midterm elections. Bloomberg also noted that investors face pressure to judge whether AI company valuations reflect a credible growth trajectory or overconfidence in an unproven investment theme.


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