Anthropic PBC's plan for what could be the largest initial public offering in corporate history is suddenly facing a credibility test — not over its artificial intelligence models, but over the money and personalities behind them. According to Bloomberg Markets, the company's IPO preparations are "under fresh scrutiny" after Nvidia Corp.'s chief executive was unexpectedly ousted, throwing a spotlight on the unusually tight financial links between two of the defining companies of the AI boom.

The sequence of events has been whipsawing for investors. Within days, the market absorbed reports of a dual $10 billion commitment to buy Anthropic stock at the IPO price — one from Nvidia, one from Google — alongside a reported trillion-dollar-plus valuation target, a retracted listing blueprint and a leadership vacuum at the world's most valuable chipmaker.

The Numbers: $70 Billion or $90 Billion?

The most immediate confusion surrounds the size of the deal itself. Forbes reported that Anthropic's IPO is targeting a $1.3 trillion valuation and a raise of roughly $90 billion. Reuters, by contrast, reported that a plan for an IPO of nearly $70 billion was briefly circulated to banks and then retracted — a significant gap that suggests the offering's structure is still being negotiated rather than finalized.

The discrepancy matters. A $90 billion raise would dwarf every previous listing in history and would require an extraordinary depth of institutional demand. A $70 billion figure, while still record-shattering, implies a more conservative read on how much capital the market can absorb. The retraction reported by Reuters may indicate that early documentation reached banks prematurely, or that the syndicate pushed back on the terms.

If finalized at the reported $1.3 trillion valuation, Anthropic would list at a scale that eclipses most of the S&P 500 — a striking outcome for a company whose previous private rounds valued it in the low hundreds of billions.

Twin $10 Billion Pledges — and a Circulatory Question

Coincentral reported that both Google and Nvidia each plan to buy $10 billion of Anthropic stock at the IPO price. Combined, the two commitments represent roughly $20 billion of anchor demand — a meaningful cushion for a deal of this magnitude, and a signal that Anthropic's own suppliers and competitors want to see the listing succeed.

But that is precisely where the analytical concern begins. Yahoo Finance framed the Nvidia side of the equation bluntly:

"Nvidia Is Weighing a $10 Billion Stake in Anthropic's IPO. It Would Be Buying Its Own Demand." — Yahoo Finance

The dynamic is circular in the way that has become familiar across the AI supply chain. Nvidia sells the GPUs that Anthropic uses to train and run its models; Anthropic's spending is a component of Nvidia's revenue growth. If Nvidia then reinvests a portion of that revenue into Anthropic's equity — at the very price the IPO is being set at — the chipmaker is effectively helping to fund its own customer's ability to keep buying its products. Investors have grown increasingly sensitive to these vendor-financing arrangements, which can flatter near-term demand while concentrating risk.

Google's position is equally nuanced. As an existing backer and a rival through its Gemini models, Google would be reinforcing a competitor's balance sheet — a hedge that keeps it close to a company many enterprises view as the leading alternative to OpenAI.

Leadership Shock at Nvidia

The disclosure that Nvidia's CEO was unexpectedly ousted adds a governance dimension that no one modeling the IPO had priced in. Bloomberg linked the move directly to the scrutiny now facing Anthropic's offering, noting that the two companies' fortunes are intertwined enough that a change at the top of one immediately raises questions about the durability of the other's anchor investor.

Details on the circumstances of the departure remain limited, but the implications are not: a $10 billion subscription commitment carries more weight when it comes from a company with a settled leadership structure. Boards and institutional allocators will want clarity on whether the pledge survives the transition, and on who is authorized to honor it.

Nvidia's Own Stock: Cheap or Cursed?

Nvidia shares have been unusually resilient through the noise. Yahoo Finance reported that the stock rose despite a downgrade from Baird — a sign that the Anthropic commitment is being read by some investors as strategic validation rather than as a red flag. MSN, meanwhile, framed the question retailers are actually asking: with Nvidia trading roughly 10% below its record high, does the Anthropic IPO filing make the stock a buy?

The bullish case is straightforward: a successful Anthropic listing would crystallize enormous value across the AI ecosystem, of which Nvidia is the principal arms dealer. The bearish case rests on concentration — a company making a multi-billion-dollar bet on its own customer while navigating a leadership crisis is a company with less margin for error than its valuation implies.

What to Watch

  • The final raise figure. Whether Anthropic re-circulates a $70 billion or a $90 billion structure will signal how banks are reading demand.
  • Nvidia's pledge. Confirmation — or repudiation — of the $10 billion commitment by incoming leadership.
  • Prospectus disclosures. Related-party transactions involving Nvidia and Google will be examined line by line.
  • Valuation discipline. A $1.3 trillion target leaves little room for a soft roadshow.

For now, the story is less about Claude's capabilities than about whether the capital structure underpinning the AI boom can withstand public-market daylight. Anthropic is about to find out.