Anthropic Revenue Surges, Wealthy Bet on SpaceX

Bloomberg Tech, live from Silicon Valley, featured a packed episode covering significant developments in the AI and space sectors. Host Ed Ludlow highlighted Anthropic's impressive revenue growth, family offices' substantial investments in SpaceX, and a new milestone in autonomous construction technology with Bedrock Robotics.

Anthropic's Revenue Skyrockets Amid IPO Buzz

The conversation kicked off with the monumental revenue figures reported by Anthropic for its second quarter of 2026. The company saw its revenue surge to $11.5 billion, a staggering 14-fold increase compared to the same period last year. This data, seen by Bloomberg and shared with prospective investors, indicates a massive demand for Anthropic's AI services, with both companies and consumers driving adoption.

The full discussion can be found on Bloomberg Technology's YouTube channel.

The report also revealed that Anthropic's annualized revenue run rate crossed $47 billion in May. The company also reported positive adjusted operating income, a signal that alleviates concerns about potentially infinite losses. The rapid growth trajectory of Anthropic, alongside OpenAI, fuels speculation about potential IPOs for both companies, possibly within the next year.

Bloomberg News reporter Rachel Metz, who broke the Anthropic revenue story, discussed the competitive landscape between Anthropic and OpenAI. Metz noted that while both companies are releasing new frontier models, OpenAI appears to be focusing on fewer, broader releases, while Anthropic might lean more into specialized areas like coding and science applications.

Family Offices Double Down on SpaceX

The segment also shed light on the significant exposure that family offices worldwide have built up in SpaceX. Recent 13F filings reveal that over a dozen family offices held stakes totaling at least $3.8 billion in the rocket and AI company during the first half of the year. Notable investors include Nicholas Pritzker of the Pritzker dynasty, the Royal family from the UAE, U.K. hedge fund billionaire Michael Platt, and Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart.

Devon Pendleton of Bloomberg News highlighted the significance of these investments, noting that for some family offices, like Nicholas Pritzker's $1.8 billion stake, it represents a substantial portion of their overall portfolio. This indicates a strong bullish sentiment not just on SpaceX, but on Elon Musk's entire business empire, with Pritzker also being an investor in Tesla.

Bedrock Robotics Unveils Autonomous Excavator

The show also featured a look at the future of construction with Bedrock Robotics' launch of the first fully autonomous excavator in the U.S. The company's technology transforms existing heavy machinery into driverless equipment, aiming to build faster, safer, and more predictably. Boris Sofman, co-founder of Bedrock Robotics, explained that their system uses a suite of sensors, including cameras and LiDAR, coupled with NVIDIA chips for compute, and their proprietary software.

Sofman emphasized that the AI buildout and broader economic factors are driving unprecedented demand in the construction industry, which is also facing labor shortages. Bedrock Robotics' autonomous excavators are already deployed and generating revenue on three commercial sites, handling projects involving millions of cubic yards of earthwork. The company's approach of retrofitting existing machinery on-site, which is 100% reversible, allows for scalable deployment.

Market Insights and AI's Influence

Todd Ahlsten, Chief Investment Officer at Parnassus Investments, offered his perspective on the market, noting that the physical world is struggling to keep up with the digital world, creating bottlenecks. He highlighted the wave of liquidity stoking demand in these shortages, leading to significant excitement but cautioned investors to look at second and third-order winners to avoid getting ahead of themselves.

Ahlsten also discussed the durability of assets like GPUs in the face of rapid technological advancement, noting that while the next two to three years might be secure, five to ten years could see tremendous change. He advised caution regarding the risks and adjusted returns needed for long-term investors in this rapidly evolving market.

The conversation also touched upon Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)'s recent tapping of Australia's bond market to raise $3.6 billion. Robert Schiffman of Bloomberg Intelligence stated that this move is a continuation of a global borrowing spree by big tech, showing a considerable appetite from the global market for high-performing hyperscaler debt. He added that while companies are spending more than they are making currently to fuel AI investments, this is expected to become a cash cow by 2028.

China's Chip Industry Momentum

Peter Elstrom, Bloomberg Executive Editor and lead on Asia technologies, discussed the breakout moment for China's chip industry, propelled by CXMT Corp. The company's market cap has surged beyond tech giants like Tencent, signaling a potential shift in industry leadership from software and services to hardware. CXMT is experiencing strong demand for its memory chips, despite being slightly behind leaders like Samsung and SK Hynix. Elstrom also highlighted China's focus on robotics, with a key player in that space set to go public this week, further underscoring Beijing's strategic emphasis on hardware development.