Claire W.Columnist

Anthropic reported record Q3 revenue of $16.8 billion and its first adjusted profit, yet talk of its IPO valuation slipped from $2 trillion to around $1.5 trillion. The reason is growth speed: revenue rose 45% after more than doubling the quarter before, and investors are pricing how fast the number grows, not how big it is.

A hotter-than-expected US inflation print knocked chip stocks and the Nasdaq lower, yet AI demand looks as strong as ever. The real shift is in financing: as borrowing costs rise, the market is sorting AI companies by how much they depend on cheap money, with debt-heavy neoclouds like CoreWeave under the most pressure.