AI surge could make 2026 the year of mega IPOs in Silicon Valley

Call it the year of the mega initial public offering. Or the year of the IPO super-cycle. At least three of the most valued and highest-profile tech companies are preparing to list shares on the public market, setting up a watershed moment for Silicon Valley and its artificial intelligence boom.

 

Anthropic and OpenAI, two prominent AI companies, have taken early steps to go public, people familiar with companies said. And SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket company, has started talks to lead an IPO, two sources said.

 

Any of these would be among the most valuable companies to go public, after Saudi Aramco’s 2019 debut at $1.7 trillion. Anthropic is fundraising talks that would value it at $350 billion, while OpenAI is worth $500 billion. SpaceX was most recently valued at $800 billion.

 

 

These listings could set off a feeding frenzy among public market investors who have been waiting to get a piece of AI boom, and Wall Street banks stand to make hundreds of millions.

 

Anthropic and OpenAI in particular see the goal of going public. IPOs have been in a slump since 2021, when 397 companies raised $142 billion in the US, according to Renaissance Capital, which tracks listings. Even the giant IPO could encourage others to take the plunge.

 

The IPOs could end the AI bubble debate by providing a detailed look at the businesses. Just as Facebook’s IPO in 2012 solidified social media as a large business, these IPOs could bring stream AI and spice into the mainstream.

 

Most employees at AI start-ups are not cashing out their valuable stock in the meantime. This could mark over 16,000 millionaires and create a windfall for Silicon Valley, which employs tens of thousands of people in AI-related industries.