Amazon was an early investor in Anthropic, the company behind Claude, and put $13 billion in with the option to invest $20 billion more. That $13 billion stake is now worth much more, given that Anthropic is considering going public at a valuation of around $1 trillion.

The AI IPO wave of 2026 continues to produce outsized winners among the corporations that backed it, instead of just those going public. SpaceX’s record-breaking debut earlier this year provided a windfall for its backers.

The AI race has been about who has the best model. That is changing, and Amazon is well placed to benefit.

Analysts reveal what could happen to Amazon shares, but the thesis may be ignoring the bigger picture.

Amazon shares surged in after-hours trading Thursday after the tech giant posted its first $200 billion quarter and beat Wall Street expectations with its financial results. Growth in advertising and AWS keyed the performance,