Anthropic, one of the leaders in artificial intelligence development, is adding a separate section to its initial public offering (IPO) prospectus dedicated to systemic risks. The company identifies the growing negative public attitude toward AI and data center construction as a key risk. This decision underscores how seriously Anthropic assesses the impact of public opinion on its long-term prospects.
A direct warning for investors
In the document, which, according to my information, will be made public in the coming weeks, the company directly points to the intensification of "public resistance" to new data center projects. This is not just a formality—it is about a fundamental factor capable of slowing down business scaling. I note that Chief Financial Officer Krishna Rao has already held a series of preliminary meetings with bankers and institutional investors in San Francisco, where issues of competition and margin pressure from open-source models were discussed. Investors also expressed concerns about possible delays in the construction of new computing capacity.
This is a fundamental point: the revenue of AI companies directly depends on access to computing resources. Let me remind you that Anthropic's annual revenue run rate exceeded $65 billion in July—approximately $25 billion more than OpenAI's. The over-the-counter market already values the company at nearly $1 trillion, and investors expect that after going public, the market capitalization could reach $2 trillion. These are ambitious figures that would make Anthropic's IPO one of the largest in history, capable of beating SpaceX's record.
Numbers that cannot be ignored
My research confirms that the company's concerns are not unfounded. According to a Gallup poll conducted in March, 7 out of 10 Americans oppose placing AI data centers near their homes, with 48% of them strongly opposed. Moreover, fresh Heatmap Pro data collected by Embold Research in August among 2,045 registered voters shows that the number of opponents has grown to 75%—a year ago it was only 42%. This is explosive growth in negativity.
Unsurprisingly, politicians are responding to voter sentiment. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order tightening requirements for data center construction, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced a moratorium on issuing permits for new large-scale facilities. Add to this Pew Research data: 71% of American adults expect job losses due to AI over the next 20 years (in 2024, this figure was 64%).
The cryptocurrency and high-tech company market is closely watching this IPO. In my view, Anthropic is demonstrating maturity by openly acknowledging systemic risks, but investors should think about this: if public discontent continues to grow, even a trillion-dollar valuation could come under pressure. The question is not whether the company can build data centers, but whether it will be allowed to do so.