If Anthropic Goes Public at $1 Trillion Or More, This Company Could Be a Big Winner

Now that the dust has settled on the massive IPO of Space Exploration Technologies (NASDAQ: SPCX), better known as SpaceX, another trillion-dollar listing could be just around the corner.

Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI tools, has already filed a confidential S-1, indicating that it could go public within the next few months. And with its latest fundraising round occurring at a $965 billion valuation, we could see a market cap well above $1 trillion when it does.

Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL)(NASDAQ: GOOG) has quietly been one of the biggest winners of SpaceX's rise, owning about 6% of the space and AI conglomerate. But its early investments in Anthropic could pay off even more.

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Alphabet's investments in Anthropic

In the first quarter of 2026, Alphabet reported its highest single-quarter profit ever. But $28.7 billion of the $62.6 billion total came from investment gains, not from Google's numerous businesses. Most of this was from marking up its Anthropic investment.

As of the latest information, Alphabet owns about 14% of Anthropic. This came from four different investments, ranging from a $300 million investment in April 2023 to a $10 billion contribution to the latest fundraising round in April of this year. The company has committed to investing an additional $30 billion, contingent on Anthropic meeting performance milestones.

What it means for investors

Of course, with a market capitalization of more than $4 trillion, it takes a lot for an investment to move the needle for Alphabet. But Anthropic has the potential to do exactly that.

Based on the latest private valuation, Alphabet's stake in Anthropic is worth about $135 billion. If the AI leader hits a $1.5 trillion valuation, Alphabet's investment gains $75 billion. If Anthropic rises to say, a $3 trillion valuation over the next few years, which is entirely possible given its business momentum, Alphabet would gain another $210 billion, and its Anthropic investment would represent a significant percentage of the company's total value. Alphabet already has a roughly 10x return on the $13.3 billion it has invested in Anthropic, but that could be just the starting point.

However, the most significant part of the investment might not be the Anthropic stake itself. As part of Google's latest investment, Anthropic has committed to using at least 5 GW of computing capacity on Google Cloud over the next five years. So, not only would the investment yield billions in equity gains if Anthropic's valuation rises, but it would also create a relationship with Anthropic that should generate billions in annual revenue for Alphabet.

Matt Frankel, CFP® has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.