Youre talking about gross margin (revenue - cost of goods sold). Operating margin, which includes other operational expenses, is still negative. Net margin, which includes all expenses, is deeply negative.
Re:Anthropic IPO
by simianwords on Thursday November 12, 2026 @08:09AM
(#50466589)
When people say Inference is subsidised, they obviously don't talk about the company itself being profitable.
I don't think that's obvious at all. The price charged for inference is subsidized in the sense that they don't charge a rate that actually makes sense if they want to be a profitable company whose main product is selling inference. If they did want to be profitable, obviously they'd charge much more for inference. Hence, people are saying it's subsidized.
Re:Anthropic IPO
by simianwords on Thursday November 12, 2026 @11:32AM
(#50470047)
No sorry I don't think what you are saying is correct. There's a clear difference between saying "companies are losing money on inference" and "companies are not profitable". One is about unit economics and the impossibility of ever becoming profitable.
Re:Anthropic IPO
by spacechild1 on Thursday November 12, 2026 @08:38AM
(#50466909)
> This filing clearly shows that the training+inference margins are at around 43%.
Subscriptions or API pricing? There is no doubt that the subscriptions are heavily subsidized. They just milk it with their API pricing.
And of course we have to assume that they didn't use any dubious accounting tricks to make them look more profitable.
This filing clearly shows that the training+inference margins are at around 43%.
I also had a bet with some one on this topic and this news pretty much settles it https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48473051
I wonder if people will now stop claiming that inference is subsidised? There has to be epistemic hygiene
Proof:
- Revenue (Jan–Sep 2026): $33.242 billion.
- Total compute and infrastructure costs (training + inference): $18.808 billion.
- Revenue after all compute costs: $14.434 billion.
- Margin: ($33.242B − $18.808B) / $33.242B = 43.4%.
- Source: Anthropic's SEC S-1 filing, November 10, 2026, “Operating Expenses — Compute and Infrastructure.”