Anthropic has passed OpenAI on quarterly revenue for the first time, posting $11.6 billion and doubling revenue from Q1 to Q2, while OpenAI grew only 18 percent to $6.7 billion.
Anthropic also achieved a small operating profit, whereas OpenAI's operating margin slipped further into the red.
The shift reflects slower growth at ChatGPT, the success of Anthropic's Claude Code tool, and Anthropic's higher revenue per use.
What happened
Anthropic posted $11.6 billion in revenue for the quarter ending in June and doubled its revenue from Q1 to Q2, surpassing OpenAI's $6.7 billion quarterly revenue (up 18 percent from $5.7 billion in Q1). Anthropic also posted a small operating profit, while OpenAI's operating margin slipped further into the red.
Why it matters
The milestone signals a shift in the AI market's commercial momentum. OpenAI's slower growth reflects softening demand at ChatGPT, while Anthropic's success with its coding tool Claude Code and higher revenue per use—according to Vercel, Anthropic earns far more per use from its Claude models than OpenAI does—suggests a meaningful competitive advantage in monetization.
What to watch
OpenAI says growth picked up again after GPT-5.6 launched in July. Anthropic has grown its annualized revenue rate sevenfold to $65 billion year over year. OpenAI's path to profitability remains unclear ahead of an expected IPO.
Ask the AI about this article →
The revenue crossover marks a significant moment in the commercial AI race. OpenAI's growth deceleration to 18 percent quarter-over-quarter stands in stark contrast to Anthropic's revenue doubling, a gap that reflects structural differences in how the two companies monetize their models. According to Vercel, Anthropic extracts substantially more revenue per user interaction with Claude, suggesting either a willingness among Anthropic's customers to pay premium rates or a more efficient pricing model. The slowing at OpenAI appears tied specifically to ChatGPT's mature user base, while Anthropic's Claude Code tool is driving incremental demand. OpenAI's deteriorating operating margin—pushing deeper into the red despite $6.7 billion in quarterly revenue—underscores the tension between aggressive growth spending and near-term profitability. The company's bet on GPT-5.6, launched in July, signals a strategy to reignite growth momentum ahead of an expected IPO; early signs suggest that launch may be working. Anthropic's achievement of a small operating profit on $11.6 billion in revenue suggests a leaner cost structure or more disciplined capital allocation, though the article does not detail the reasons.
AI-summarized, only the topics you pick — one digest a day via Email, Slack, or Discord.
Free · takes 30 seconds · unsubscribe anytime
Ask AI anything about this article. Q&As are published on this page for other readers too.
Anthropic is privately hoping to file for its initial public offering by the end of this month, targeting a ra…
Broadcom is reportedly seeking to borrow up to $100 billion in debt financing to support growth efforts at Ant…
Elice Group, a South Korean AI infrastructure provider, announced the launch of the country's first AI data ce…
On August 12, AT&T's Chief Data and AI Officer said OpenAI models power about 25% of the telecom's total AI us…
On August 11, IBM announced a multi-year $240 million agreement with Together AI to deploy NVIDIA HGX B300 sys…
Tencent Holdings is receiving shipments of Nvidia H200 AI chips under a new Chinese policy that permits limite…
