Anthropic said its revenue rose 45% to $16.8 billion for the quarter that ended in September, according to sources familiar with the briefing.

The figures were presented during a private investor briefing at the company’s San Francisco headquarters on Wednesday, as the firm prepares for an initial public offering expected before the end of the year.

Anthropic also told prospective investors that it achieved profitability for a second straight quarter, following $4.7 billion in the first quarter and $11.6 billion in the second.

The company declined to comment further on the numbers, but its financial trajectory is being watched as a gauge of the AI sector’s ability to fund large‑scale data‑center spending.

The upbeat results came as global technology stocks fell sharply, with semiconductor makers such as Nvidia, AMD and Intel seeing steep price declines.

Asian markets mirrored the sell‑off, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropping nearly 5% and South Korean chipmakers Samsung and SK Hynix falling over 9%, prompting temporary trading halts on the Kospi and Kosdaq indexes.

Broadcom CEO Hock Tan warned at a Singapore conference that investor expectations for AI returns are “extreme,” likening them to gambling in a casino, a comment that added to market nervousness.

U.S. inflation data for September showed faster‑than‑expected price growth, raising concerns the Federal Reserve may keep or raise interest rates, further dampening sentiment toward high‑cost AI projects.

Safety concerns remain prominent in the sector; OpenAI’s Sam Altman has postponed its trillion‑dollar IPO pending safety reviews, echoing Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s calls for a measured development pace as the company expands globally, including a new office in Singapore.