Anthropic has moved ahead of OpenAI on revenue for the first time in the AI race, changing the financial picture between two of the sector’s most closely watched companies.
The comparison is striking because both companies are still expanding, but at very different speeds. OpenAI reported growth from the first to the second quarter, while Anthropic doubled revenue over the same period.
A revenue shift at the top of the AI race
OpenAI told investors that revenue grew 18 percent from the first to the second quarter. Its revenue reached $6.7 billion in the quarter ending in June, up from $5.7 billion in the first quarter.
Anthropic’s figure was higher. The company hit $11.6 billion and posted a small operating profit, putting it ahead of OpenAI on revenue for the first time.
That matters because revenue has become one of the clearest ways to compare momentum in the AI race. Product attention, model launches, and user growth all matter, but revenue shows how much demand is turning into money.
Why OpenAI faces new pressure
The Wall Street Journal reports that OpenAI’s 18 percent growth disappointed some shareholders. The concern is not that OpenAI stopped growing. It is that Anthropic grew much faster over the same stretch.
OpenAI also remains outside profit. Its operating margin slipped further into the red in the quarter ending in June, a key detail as the company moves toward an expected IPO.
That creates a sharper investor question. OpenAI is producing large revenue, but the source article says its operating margin moved further negative. Anthropic, by contrast, reached higher revenue and posted a small operating profit.
Claude Code is changing the comparison
The source article points to two forces putting pressure on OpenAI: slower growth at ChatGPT and the success of Anthropic’s coding tool Claude Code.
Claude Code matters because it gives Anthropic a visible product driver beyond the broader Claude model family. The article also says Anthropic earns far more per use from its Claude models, according to Vercel.
That combination helps explain why revenue can diverge even when both companies are major AI players. If one company grows faster and earns more per use, it can pull ahead financially even while the other remains large.
The annualized revenue signal
Anthropic also says it has grown its annualized revenue rate sevenfold to $65 billion year over year. That number is separate from the quarterly revenue comparison, but it adds to the picture of accelerating demand.
Annualized revenue rate is useful because it frames current revenue pace as a forward-looking run rate. In this case, the source article presents it as evidence of how quickly Anthropic’s business has scaled.
The figures do not mean the AI race is settled. They do show that the financial story is no longer only about OpenAI’s scale. Anthropic now has a revenue lead in the reported comparison, a small operating profit, and visible momentum from Claude Code.
GPT-5.6 and what comes next
OpenAI says growth picked up again after GPT-5.6 launched in July. That makes the next comparison important, because the reported second-quarter numbers ended before that launch.
For now, the source article shows a clear shift. Anthropic passed OpenAI on revenue for the first time, while OpenAI’s slower ChatGPT growth and deeper negative operating margin raised investor concerns.
The result is a more competitive AI market at the top. Anthropic is no longer only chasing OpenAI in the revenue story. It has become the company setting the pace in this reported snapshot.