Ahead of one of the most anticipated public offerings in the technology sector, Anthropic is preparing documents for the SEC in which it intends to openly disclose systemic threats to its business. This is not about trivial competition or market volatility, but about a fundamental shift in public sentiment: the growing rejection of artificial intelligence and its associated infrastructure—data centers—could directly hit the company's growth rates and valuation.
The distrust factor as part of due diligence
In the offering prospectus, which, according to my information, will be made public in the coming weeks, the company will highlight a separate block of risks related to "public resistance" to the construction of new computing capacity. This is not just a formality. Over the past few months, I have observed how local protests and regulatory barriers have begun to slow down projects even in the most technologically advanced states. Anthropic, whose revenue directly depends on access to GPU clusters, is forced to consider this factor as critical to its operating model.
Chief Financial Officer Krishna Rao has already held a series of closed meetings with bankers and major investors in San Francisco, where issues of competition with open models and margin pressure were separately discussed. However, the key topic was precisely infrastructure vulnerability: delays in data center construction could lead to a shortage of computing capacity, which would directly affect the ability to serve clients and scale products.
Numbers that cannot be ignored
The alarming trend is confirmed by fresh surveys. While in March a Gallup study showed that 7 out of 10 Americans oppose the placement of AI data centers near their homes, by August a Heatmap Pro survey of 2,045 registered voters recorded an increase in opponents to 75%. A year ago, this figure was only 42%. This is not just statistics—it is a signal for lawmakers, who are increasingly intervening in the process.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has already tightened requirements for the construction of such facilities, and his New York counterpart Kathy Hochul has imposed a moratorium on issuing permits for new large data centers. Against this backdrop, it is unsurprising that 71% of American adults, according to Pew Research data, expect job losses due to AI in the next 20 years—this figure has risen from 64% in 2024.
At the same time, Anthropic's business metrics look impressive: the annual revenue run rate exceeded $65 billion in July, roughly $25 billion more than OpenAI. The over-the-counter market values the company at nearly $1 trillion, and investors expect a market capitalization of $2 trillion after the IPO, which would break SpaceX's record for the amount of funds raised.
My view: Anthropic is betting on transparency, but the market may perceive this in two ways. On the one hand, honest acknowledgment of risks is a sign of maturity. On the other, if public pressure continues to grow, this could become a trigger for a reassessment of the entire sector's valuations. Investors should closely monitor not only financial metrics but also how quickly companies can build a dialogue with local communities. This is a new front of competitive struggle, and it will only intensify.