Anthropic’s White House Thaw Eases Path to $1 Trillion IPO Despite Pentagon Fight

AI startup Anthropic and the Trump administration are de-escalating a months-long dispute as the company readies an initial public offering that could value it at $1 trillion, sources told Reuters on June 5, 2026. The rift began when Anthropic refused to let the U.S. military use its AI for domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons, prompting the Defense Department to designate it a supply-chain risk in March—the first U.S. company to receive that label. Tensions eased after CEO Dario Amodei’s mid-April White House visit. Anthropic was invited to a May 21 executive order signing on AI that was later scrapped, but President Trump signed a revised order on June 2 instructing top AI developers to submit models for cybersecurity testing. Anthropic welcomed the move. The company has also discussed its advanced Mythos system with National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to safeguard critical infrastructure. Still, the Pentagon is “vigorously” defending its blacklisting in court as of June 4, and Anthropic was excluded from an Army AI cyber simulation in April. Analysts say the mending relationship could lift investor confidence ahead of the IPO.