Anthropic is still a private company, but some reports and speculation suggest that it could have its initial public offering (IPO) this year. Despite the company still being private, reports have surfaced surrounding the company's sales outlook for this year. According to reports, the artificial intelligence (AI) company and Claude parent now expects its sales to reach roughly $18 billion this year -- more than quadrupling compared to its sales last year.
Meanwhile, sales for next year are reportedly projected to be around $55 billon. The company has yet to go public, but some businesses that provide foundational hardware that powers Anthropic's artificial intelligence software are already trading on public markets. Read on for a look at two of Anthropic's most important hardware providers.
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1. Nvidia
Like other leading players in the large-language-model (LLM) space, Anthropic uses graphics processing units (GPUs) from Nvidia (NVDA 2.89%) to train and run its AI software. While other players in the GPU space aim to take market share away from Nvidia in the high-end AI processor space, there's little indication that there have been real shake-ups when it comes to performance advantages in the category. Leading AI software companies have also been aiming to shift some of their processing needs to application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), but this transition still seems to be in relatively early stages and is unlikely to completely offset rising demand for Nvidia's artificial intelligence chips.
NASDAQ: NVDA
Key Data Points
Nvidia's advanced processors have been at the center of the AI revolution, and soaring demand for the company's hardware has made it the world's most valuable company. The role that ultra-high-end GPUs play in pushing artificial intelligence software forward has allowed the hardware leader to post stellar gross margins and explosive growth for sales and earnings.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang described Anthropic's Claude AI platform as "incredible" and said that his company used the service heavily. The AI hardware frontrunner is also providing investment capital for the software specialist. Last November, Nvidia and Microsoft announced a new partnership to invest at least $5 billion in Anthropic and left the door open to raise the investment amount to as much as $10 billion.
Between Anthropic's use of Nvidia processors, utilization of servers from Microsoft and Amazon built on the hardware, and direct investments, the company has close ties to Nvidia.
2. Broadcom
While Nvidia is the market leader when it comes to advanced GPUs for AI applications, Broadcom (AVGO 0.07%) is the leading provider of connectivity chips that bridge chips together to create high-performance server farms. The company is also a designer of ASICs tailored for AI uses.
In December, Broadcom revealed that Anthropic had placed an order for its custom chips built in collaboration with Alphabet worth $10 billion. In addition to the Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) produced in partnership with Alphabet, Broadcom revealed that Anthropic had put in an order for an additional $11 billion worth of tech hardware -- including XPU custom chips and entire server racks.
NASDAQ: AVGO
Key Data Points
Broadcom's revenue surged 28% year over year to reach roughly $18 billion in the fourth quarter of its last fiscal year -- which ended Nov. 2. Existing order backlog from Anthropic will likely continue to show up on the company's sales statements in the current fiscal year. Even better, there's a very good chance that Anthropic will continue to to purchase TPUs, XPUs, and complete server racks from the company.
Anthropic's use of cloud computing services from Microsoft and Amazon will likely continue to be a positive demand catalyst for Broadcom's connectivity chips. The AI software specialist is also emerging as one of Broadcom's largest direct customers. So long as Anthropic continues to rapidly expand its service base and build out its artificial intelligence infrastructure, there's a good chance that it will continue being a major demand catalyst for Broadcom.
