According to TechCrunch, Anthropic expects to generate as much as $70 billion in revenue and $17 billion in cash flow by 2028. The company is reportedly on track to hit $9 billion in annual recurring revenue by the end of 2025 and targets $20-26 billion ARR for 2026. This year alone, Anthropic projects $3.8 billion from API sales—double what OpenAI expects from similar services. Recent enterprise partnerships with Microsoft, Salesforce, Deloitte, and Cognizant are driving this explosive growth. The company also just raised $13 billion at a $170 billion valuation and might seek another round at $300-400 billion. Meanwhile, Anthropic’s gross profit margin is expected to swing from negative 94% last year to 50% this year and 77% by 2028.
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The enterprise-first strategy paying off
Here’s the thing: Anthropic isn’t trying to be everything to everyone. While OpenAI chases both consumer and enterprise markets with its 800 million weekly users, Anthropic is going all-in on business customers. And it’s working. Their recent expanded Salesforce partnership and Deloitte deal show they’re targeting regulated industries and massive consulting firms that can deploy Claude across entire organizations.
The timing is perfect. Businesses are desperate for AI solutions they can trust, especially in finance, healthcare, and other regulated sectors. Anthropic’s focus on safety and reliability—their whole Constitutional AI thing—suddenly looks less like academic idealism and more like competitive advantage. They’re basically becoming the “enterprise-safe” alternative to OpenAI’s wilder, more consumer-focused approach.
Wait, cash flow isn’t profit
Now, that $17 billion cash flow projection for 2028 sounds impressive, but it’s not the same as profit. Cash flow just means more money coming in than going out from operations, investments, and financing. Anthropic still has some serious liabilities—a $2.5 billion credit facility and a $1.5 billion legal settlement from that copyright lawsuit.
But here’s what matters: they’re projecting positive cash flow while OpenAI expects to burn through $14 billion in 2026 alone. That’s a fundamental difference in strategy. OpenAI is spending like crazy on infrastructure to support their massive user base, while Anthropic is taking the measured, capital-efficient enterprise route. Which approach wins long-term? Honestly, both might—they’re serving completely different markets.
The model strategy that’s actually working
Anthropic’s recent model releases tell you everything about their focus. Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Claude Haiku 4.5 aren’t just incremental improvements—they’re smaller, more cost-effective models designed specifically for businesses deploying AI at scale. When you’re serving thousands of employees at companies like Deloitte and Cogniet, you need models that are cheap to run and reliable.
Their Claude for Financial Services and Enterprise Search products show they’re not just selling API access—they’re building industry-specific solutions. That’s where the real money is. Businesses will pay premium prices for AI that understands their specific workflows and compliance requirements. It’s a much stickier product than just another chatbot API.
The valuation reality check
A $300-400 billion valuation would put Anthropic in the same league as some of the world’s most valuable companies. But can they actually justify that? Their revenue projections suggest maybe yes—$70 billion by 2028 would be extraordinary growth. But there’s a catch: the entire AI market is betting that current adoption rates continue indefinitely.
The real question isn’t whether Anthropic can hit these numbers—it’s whether the enterprise AI market has the staying power everyone assumes. If businesses start seeing diminishing returns from AI implementations, or if regulation tightens, these projections could look very different. But for now, Anthropic’s focused enterprise approach seems to be giving them a clearer path to profitability than their better-known rival. The stark contrast with OpenAI’s projected losses makes you wonder which strategy investors will ultimately prefer.
