Differences in revenue recognition standards between OpenAI and Anthropic spark market concerns: Annualized revenue may overstate actual revenue by double.

Beating AI Express News, according to a Bloomberg report, OpenAI and Anthropic have significant differences in their revenue accounting standards, making the annualized revenue figures released by the two AI giants difficult to compare directly, and intensifying investors’ concerns about the growth prospects of the AI industry. The report notes that Anthropic includes total sales generated through cloud service partners such as Amazon in its revenue, while OpenAI only recognizes the net revenue share it receives from partners like Microsoft. Since neither company has published standardized financial statements, investors currently struggle to accurately assess their actual business scales. Annualized revenue (ARR) also has limitations. Sources familiar with the matter revealed that OpenAI expects its full-year 2026 actual revenue to be around $35 billion, roughly half of its annualized revenue target of $700 billion by the end of the year. Meanwhile, documents reviewed by Bloomberg show that Anthropic’s actual 2025 revenue was approximately $4.6 billion, while its then-reported annualized revenue exceeded $9 billion. Analysts point out that annualized revenue is typically extrapolated from short-term performance or contract values, and cannot be equated to actual full-year recognized revenue. Against the backdrop of high valuations for AI giants and tech stocks trading at elevated levels, uncertainties surrounding revenue growth rates and accounting standards may further impact the market’s judgment of AI investment returns.