- OpenAI has confidentially filed for an IPO that could value it at up to US$1 trillion, days after Anthropic filed at US$965 billion.
- They join SpaceX, set to start trading on 12 June at around a US$1.75 trillion valuation, in a record-breaking IPO wave.
- All these filings are confidential, so the real revenue and losses stay hidden until a public prospectus appears.
- Until then, US investors can play AI through listed names like Nvidia, Microsoft and Alphabet, or through AI and chip ETFs.
OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, has confidentially filed paperwork for a stock market listing that could value it at up to US$1 trillion. The move, announced this week, lands just days after rival lab Anthropic filed its own paperwork at a US$965 billion valuation, a figure that has quietly pushed it ahead of OpenAI. Both follow SpaceX, which is set to begin trading on the Nasdaq on 12 June at roughly US$1.75 trillion. For US investors, this is shaping up to be the largest cluster of mega-listings in market history. The question is how to take part and whether the prices make sense.
The Catch: Confidential Filings Hide the Real Numbers
Here is what many headlines gloss over. OpenAI and Anthropic both filed confidentially. In plain terms, they have started the process with the regulator, but the key financials, real revenue, costs and losses, stay private until a public prospectus is released, usually about two weeks before any listing.
That matters because these are not yet profitable businesses. OpenAI has said it does not expect to turn a profit until around 2030, while Anthropic has told investors it may break even closer to 2028. SpaceX posted a net loss of about US$4.9 billion in 2025, even as revenue grew. So while the valuations are enormous, investors are being asked to back ambition and forecasts, not proven earnings. Until the full books open, treat the trillion-dollar labels as targets, not facts.
Why This Is the Biggest IPO Wave Wall Street Has Ever Seen
The scale here is hard to overstate. Together, these three offerings could soak up more than US$200 billion from public markets. To put that in context, the entire US IPO market raised only about US$45 billion in all of 2025.
This also changes how investors access AI. Until now, there were very few pure-play AI stocks, so big money bought proxies instead: Nvidia for chips, Microsoft for its OpenAI stake, and Alphabet for its AI labs. Once OpenAI and Anthropic trade directly, some of that money may rotate out of those proxies and into the new names. That could create winners and losers, and likely more volatility, as the market digests so much new supply at once.
How US Investors Can Play AI Right Now
You cannot buy OpenAI or Anthropic yet, and SpaceX shares only start trading in mid-June. But you do not have to wait to invest in the theme.
The most direct listed plays remain the AI infrastructure leaders. Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) still supplies most of the chips behind AI, while cloud and data-centre names such as CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV) and Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) provide the computing power. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) offer broad exposure through their AI products and their stakes in the labs themselves.
For those who prefer to spread the risk, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track AI and semiconductors hold dozens of these companies in one place, which softens the blow if any single stock stumbles.
The Investor’s Takeaway
The AI IPO wave is real, and for the first time, it offers a direct way to own the companies at the centre of the boom. But valuations have raced far ahead of profits, and a flood of new shares could unsettle prices across the sector.
In our view, the measured approach wins here. Spreading exposure through established leaders or ETFs is lower-risk than chasing the hype, and with OpenAI and Anthropic specifically, the smart move is to wait for the public prospectus and real numbers before deciding what they are worth.
