Anthropic's dispute with US govt emerges as risk factor for Figma, others

By Brody Ford and Rachel Metz

 

Anthropic PBC’s legal dispute with the US government over whether the company’s artificial intelligence models will be banned from federal agencies has emerged as a financial threat to other businesses. 

Design software maker Figma Inc. said it may harm its ability to sell to the government if Anthropic continues to be declared a “supply chain risk.” Anthropic’s Claude is the large language model on which Figma built AI features for products sold to federal agencies, the company disclosed Thursday in a regulatory filing. If the US government bars Anthropic and Figma is unable to find a suitable replacement, “sales to governmental entities and highly regulated organizations could suffer,” according to the filing.

 

 

President Donald Trump said in February that the US government would blacklist Anthropic as a “supply chain risk” following a dispute with the company over the military’s use of its models. Anthropic has since sued the Defense Department, claiming it’s being banned for the company’s opposition to how the technology may be deployed.

 

Figma’s disclosure follows similar risk warnings by other companies. Tenable Holdings Inc., a cybersecurity provider, also told investors earlier this month about the potential need to quickly replace Anthropic’s offerings, saying it could cause “significant engineering costs, service disruptions, and the loss of critical product functionality.”

 

Freightos Ltd., a global shipping platform, said last month that its use of Anthropic’s models subjects the company “to significant regulatory and political risk” because of the legal fight with the Defense Department.

 

Companies typically list a range of potential risks to their businesses in financial filings.

 

Figma, which makes software for website and application design, received authorization to sell to federal agencies in early 2025. It expects government sales to increase over time, but they currently don’t amount to a significant portion of its revenue, according to the filing.