Anthropic S-1: $475 billion in compute commitments against $16.28 billion revenue

Anthropic's filing arrives as it prepares to go public, and the document lays out a structure that has worked so far but carries an unusual shape. Revenue has grown faster than the cost of the tokens it serves: cost of revenue was $2.4 billion in the six months ended June 2026, up 135%, while the company also spent $9.7 billion on computing and infrastructure for research and development of future models. Currently, it says it makes more than two dollars in revenue for every dollar spent on computing infrastructure.

The pressure comes from timing. Anthropic contracts for compute 12 to 18 months in advance, and its infrastructure spending is committed well ahead of expected demand. It has acknowledged underestimating compute requirements in the past, leaving it capacity constrained, and it warns that new compute coming online may not align with demand, producing periods of excess or underutilized compute and committed cash outflows that do not produce immediate revenue. At the end of 2025, customer spend declined by about 20% compared to the prior two weeks before bouncing back.

Anthropic is trying to shift enterprise customers into non-cancelable, multi-year deals with fixed minimum spends in exchange for discounted token rates, reporting about $10.8 billion in remaining performance obligations under these contracts as of June 2026. But 75% of that revenue will be recognized over the next year, while data center commitments extend well beyond. Analyst Gil Luria of D.A. Davidson told Fortune that no company in history has grown this fast, this efficiently, and that Anthropic has shown it is profitable with ample cash. The filing also notes other risks, including top five customers accounting for roughly 25% of revenue in the first nine months of 2026 and an estimated 5% to 7% of revenue this year from customers later found violating usage policies.