Anthropic and OpenAI Are Both Racing to IPO. GE Vernova Wins Either Way.

Two of the hottest artificial intelligence (AI) companies on the planet plan to go public. Anthropic filed a confidential S-1 initial registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on June 1, 2026, and plans to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) in November. OpenAI filed its S-1 a week later than Anthropic and will likely hold its IPO next year.

While investors eagerly await the debuts of these two prominent AI stocks, there's another stock they can buy right now that is directly benefiting from the success of both Anthropic and OpenAI. GE Vernova (NYSE: GEV) doesn't care which of these AI model leaders go public first -- it wins either way.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Power hungry

As Anthropic and OpenAI scramble to deliver increasingly advanced AI models, the electricity needed to run their systems continues to grow. Electric power ranks among the most precious commodities fueling the AI boom.

OpenAI has stated that "electrons are the new oil." The company has urged the U.S. government to increase investment in electricity production and has specifically pushed for an additional 100 gigawatts of power capacity per year.

Anthropic is singing from the same page in the hymnal. It released a report in July 2025 titled "Build AI in America" that declared, "Frontier AI model training requires continuous access to firm, reliable power sources, and meeting this goal will require extraordinary U.S. energy capacity across a range of energy technologies."

However, the seemingly insatiable electricity demand by AI data centers has been at the center of an ongoing controversy. Some accuse AI companies of driving up electricity costs for other customers. In response to criticism, both Anthropic and OpenAI have committed to paying higher electricity prices for their data centers.

A win-win scenario for GE Vernova

GE Vernova and its shareholders are thoroughly enjoying the surge in the build-out of power-hungry data centers. The company's three business segments are each "picks-and-shovels" providers to the AI industry. Its power segment manufactures power generation equipment, including gas turbines. GE Vernova's wind segment makes turbines and blades for wind power generation. The company's electrification segment markets products and services for the transmission, distribution, and storage of electricity.

The industrial stock has skyrocketed more than 6x since its spin-off from GE (NYSE: GE) (now GE Aerospace) in April 2024. Even though GE Vernova's share price has pulled back from its highs set in June 2026, the stock remains up around 45% year to date.

A quick look at GE Vernova's latest quarterly results helps explain its impressive stock performance. The company's new orders jumped 88% year over year in the second quarter of 2026 to $24.2 billion, with especially strong growth in its power and electrification segments. The electrification segment's orders from data centers alone topped $5 billion in the first half of 2026, more than double the total from all of 2025.

GE Vernova is, for all practical purposes, agnostic about which AI companies or models achieve the most commercial success. If and when Anthropic and OpenAI raise additional capital through their respective IPOs, both companies will almost certainly spend more on electricity going forward. GE Vernova is in a win-win scenario.

Is GE Vernova stock a buy?

Because Anthropic's and OpenAI's S-1 filings were confidential, investors don't yet know as much about the two companies' financial positions as they'd prefer. That isn't the case with GE Vernova. Its books are wide open to anyone to examine -- and there's a lot to like in the numbers you'll see.

However, some investors will quickly spot one area of concern with GE Vernova. The stock trades at roughly 38 times forward earnings. This valuation makes the industrial giant more expensive than most of the typically pricey "Magnificent Seven" stocks.

Still, most Wall Street analysts view GE Vernova as a smart pick right now. I think they're right to be bullish. GE Vernova's shares are expensive, but they're worth the premium.

Keith Speights has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends GE Aerospace and GE Vernova. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.