On May 23, 2026, Reuters reported that Anthropic is set to close a new round of over $30 billion at a valuation above $900 billion “as soon as next week,” with the FT reporting that terms have been agreed. If it lands, Anthropic’s valuation vaults past OpenAI’s.
From Rumor to Nearly Done
The timeline compresses into a little over three months:
- February 12: a $30B Series G closed at a $380B post-money valuation
- April 29: Reuters, citing Bloomberg, reported a new round under discussion at a valuation above $900B
- May 23: Reuters says the close could come as soon as next week; the FT says terms are agreed
Between “terms agreed” and “officially closed” there is one last stretch of road. But the direction is consistent, the pace is accelerating, and this round is now hard to walk back.
After Topping OpenAI
OpenAI closed its record $122B round at an $852B post-money valuation at the end of March. If Anthropic finishes above $900B, first place on the capital market’s scoreboard changes hands for the first time. The nature of the contest changes with it: once you stop being the chaser and become the chased, every financial figure and every model release gets measured against the justification for that valuation — the premium attached to first place has always come with the strictest scrutiny.
Where the Capital Goes
A size above $30B matches or exceeds February’s Series G. Under a cost structure dominated by compute, the destinations are not hard to guess: clusters for training the next model generation, expanded inference capacity, and multi-year power and data center commitments. The capital cadence of frontier labs is now explicit — raise the next round before the last one is spent, because compute lead times are measured in years, and ordering after demand appears is already too late.
Dates Worth Tracking
- The official close announcement and the final size and valuation
- Whether OpenAI’s potential IPO moves faster in response
- Anthropic’s formal statement on use of funds
From February to May, the conversation moved from $380B to above $900B. Wherever the final number lands, the trend of 2026 — capital concentrating into a handful of frontier labs — is no longer in doubt.
Sources
- Anthropic set to close $30B round — Reuters via Yahoo Finance
- Anthropic funding round — Financial Times
AI-assisted summary compiled from the sources above, reviewed by a human before publishing.