AI company Anthropic’s strong revenue growth signals present a counterargument to earlier bubble concerns, according to the ETF provider, reinforcing the case for continued investment in AI infrastructure.
Betashares investment strategist Hugh Lam says Anthropic’s latest results is one of the “clearest signs yet” that AI monetisation is accelerating, challenging the bubble narrative that has circulated since late 2025.
It follows the US AI giant’s update earlier this month that its revenue rate had now topped US$30 billion ($43 billion), up from US$9 billion at the end of 2025. With demand for its Claude services accelerating, Anthropic said over 1,000 businesses are now spending over US$1 million on an annual basis.
“Concerns at the end of 2025 and into 2026 about a potential technology bubble were driven in large part by uncertainty over whether AI adoption would translate into real revenues.
“What recent developments show is that this monetisation is not only real, but accelerating, particularly at the enterprise level where AI is increasingly being embedded into core workflows and customer-facing applications,” Lam said.
He pointed to the pace of growth as critical, marking a potential “turning point” as businesses shift to meaningful spending and validate AI’s tangible commercial value, rather than treating it as a future promise. Lam added that reaching this scale with fewer employees and less compute than major tech peers also suggests improving unit economics and margin potential if growth continues.
Rather than a win being only limited to Anthropic, Lam said the result is a “vote of confidence” for the broader AI ecosystem, reinforcing the case for continued data centre and semiconductor investment by mega-cap tech companies. At present, Bloomberg estimates have put AI hyperscaler capital expenditure this year at about US$750 billion, compared to less than US$450 billion in 2025.
While an initial pullback from mega-cap US tech amid AI capex concerns occurred earlier this year, investors are starting to see some of the benefits flow through to earnings, particularly in semiconductors and hardware. US IT earnings are now expected to grow 45 per cent year-on-year for Q1 2026.
Meanwhile, Betashares reported that its Nasdaq 100 ETF (NDQ), which tracks the largest non-financial companies in the US, has received nearly $200 million in net flows this year. With nearly $7.4 billion in funds under management, it has returned 18.32 per cent annually since inception in 2015.
“At the same time, despite strong earnings momentum, valuations have become more reasonable, with the Nasdaq 100 now trading at a lower premium to the broader market,” Lam added.
His comments also come as Anthropic has deemed its latest model, Mythos, “too dangerous” for public release, citing unprecedented risks tied to its ability to uncover vulnerabilities in IT systems. So far, it has been deployed on a limited basis to a small group of mainly US companies, including Amazon, Apple and Microsoft, with plans to extend access to UK financial institutions this week.
OpenAI rivalry
As Anthropic prepares for a potential IPO later this year, rival OpenAI — the maker of ChatGPT — is also heading towards a listing, with investor concerns focused on valuation metrics.
In an internal memo to staff on 12 April, rival OpenAI accused Anthropic of overstating its revenue metric, according to reporting from US tech publication The Verge.
In the memo, the firm’s chief revenue officer Denise Dresser said Anthropic’s revenue-share arrangements with Amazon and Google are being booked in a way that artificially inflates headline figures, arguing that stripping them out would significantly reduce the company’s reported run rate.
Dresser addressed the intensifying competition between OpenAI and Anthropic, stating that the market is “as competitive as I have ever seen it” and pointing to Anthropic’s sustained advantage in coding, which has seen it widely viewed as having built a bigger and more durable enterprise business than its rival.
However, PitchBook senior analyst Harrison Rolfes said the “accounting arms race” between the companies still relies on reporting that would struggle to withstand scrutiny from major audit firms.
OpenAI is currently valued at about US$852 billion following a recent record funding round, while Anthropic is valued at roughly US$380 billion. With both companies’ IPOs expected to be among the largest ever, Lam concluded that Nasdaq’s new fast-entry rule “adds another interesting dimension” for investors.
“It means very large IPOs, such as Anthropic, could potentially enter the index just 15 trading days after listing.”
