Anthropic’s confidential S-1 filing in early June 2026 and ongoing preparations for a potential November listing, including roadshow meetings and strong revenue growth toward $100 billion annualized, have positioned it ahead in the IPO race. OpenAI, which filed shortly after, has seen its timeline slip after CEO Sam Altman stated in September that a 2026 debut would be ill-advised amid heightened artificial intelligence safety priorities, shifting focus to 2027. Traders see Anthropic’s faster progress through regulatory review and investor outreach as the decisive edge, though last-minute market conditions, regulatory reviews, or internal shifts at either large language model developer could still alter sequencing.