Anthropic IPO faces AI backlash after midterms rebuke data centres

Anthropic’s mid-November IPO is expected to land just as American voters turn on AI and data centres.

Anthropic is heading toward a potentially historic IPO at a time when midterm results show a sharp voter backlash against artificial intelligence and data centres, CNBC reports.

The company is likely targeting a mid-November Nasdaq debut. Investors see it aiming for a valuation of $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion, down from a $2 trillion target floated in recent months, CNBC reported on Friday.

In Tuesday’s midterms, voters opposed data-centre ballot measures in 40 of 41 cases. More than half said AI data centres were a “crucial” or “major factor” in who they backed for Congress, according to an NBC News exit poll.

“What Anthropic is doing when they’re going public with such a high valuation is they’re really leaning into that big tech, billionaire kind of caricature,” said Maura Austin, a behavioural scientist at the University of Virginia.

The Nasdaq suffered its steepest drop in 19 months on Thursday. Anthropic declined to comment.