Anthropic is preparing for a historic public offering, but in its prospectus, the company is forced to openly admit: the main brake on its growth may not be competitors, but Americans themselves. This refers to the rapidly growing public resistance to AI infrastructure and data centers.
A confidential IPO filing was submitted back in June, followed by closed meetings with bankers and major investors in San Francisco. The public version of the document is expected to appear in the coming weeks, with a separate item in the risk factors section highlighting negative perceptions of artificial intelligence.
Investors ask uncomfortable questions
Chief Financial Officer Krishna Rao has already faced questions about competitive pressure from open-source models and how it will impact margins. But investors' main concern runs deeper: what happens if construction of new data centers stalls due to protests from local communities? For an AI lab, this is an existential risk, since revenue directly depends on access to computing power.
Meanwhile, the financial metrics are impressive. Anthropic's annualized revenue run rate exceeded $65 billion in July — roughly $25 billion more than OpenAI. On the over-the-counter market, the company is already valued at nearly $1 trillion, and investors expect that after going public, its market capitalization could reach $2 trillion. This would break SpaceX's record for funds raised in an IPO.
Numbers that cannot be ignored
My own data shows that Anthropic's concerns are justified. A Gallup poll conducted in March found that 7 out of 10 Americans oppose placing AI data centers near their homes, with 48% strongly opposed. More recent data from Heatmap Pro (an Embold Research survey from August 8–13, 2,045 registered voters) shows explosive growth in resistance: already 75% are opposed, compared to just 42% a year ago.
Add to that fears about jobs. Pew Research found that 71% of American adults expect job losses due to AI in the next 20 years — a notable increase from 64% in 2024. Politicians are already reacting: Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order tightening requirements for data center construction, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced a moratorium on permits for new large-scale facilities.
My analysis: the market may be underestimating this factor. Tech giants are used to thinking their main risks are regulation and competition, but here we see a new class of systemic risk — social. If the resistance trend continues, construction costs and timelines for bringing capacity online will grow exponentially, directly hitting the unit economics of all AI companies, including Anthropic. This is not just a line item in the prospectus — it is a potential tipping point for the entire industry.