Anthropic says it’s on track for its first profitable quarter in Q2 2026; Nvidia posts strong quarter

Anthropic has told investors it expects to post its first profitable quarter in the three months ending June 2026, according to reports from CNBC, Bloomberg and others citing people familiar with the matter. The startup is projecting about $10.9 billion in second-quarter revenue, more than double the roughly $4.8 billion it generated in the first quarter, those reports said. The figures point to how quickly a small group of AI model makers are turning enterprise demand into large sales, even as the cost of computing power remains heavy. Nvidia’s latest quarter, reported on May 20, offered the matching picture on the supply side: record chip revenue tied to the same buildout. ### Why is Anthropic talking about profitability now? May 20 investor materials cited by CNBC and Bloomberg said Anthropic is on pace for an operating profit in the June quarter. TechCrunch, citing the Wall Street Journal, separately reported that the company told investors it would deliver an operating profit for the first time. The projected profit appears to be tied to rapid revenue growth rather than lower spending. (cnbc.com) Reports citing investor materials said demand for Claude and related enterprise products has accelerated fast enough to offset at least part of the company’s infrastructure bill this quarter. ### How big is the revenue jump Anthropic is projecting? Anthropic’s projected $10.9 billion in second-quarter revenue would be more than twice its first-quarter revenue of about $4.8 billion, according to CNBC and Bloomberg. (cnbc.com) Several follow-on reports said that pace would put the company among the fastest-growing AI software businesses, though those figures remain private and were described by unnamed sources familiar with investor discussions. A reported operating profit of about $559 million has circulated in secondary coverage tied to those investor materials. That figure has not been publicly confirmed by Anthropic, but it has been repeated by outlets summarizing the same fundraising disclosures. ### What is still threatening sustained profitability? High compute costs remain the main risk. NewsBytes said Anthropic’s infrastructure expenses could still threaten sustained profitability later in 2026 even if the June quarter turns positive. (cnbc.com) Other reports tied to the investor materials said the company continues to commit heavily to computing capacity, meaning margins may remain thin. (aiweekly.co) That makes the June quarter notable but not definitive. Based on the reported figures, the company may show that frontier-model providers can produce operating profit in a strong demand environment, while still remaining exposed to the cost of chips, cloud capacity and long-term infrastructure contracts. That is an inference from the reported revenue and cost figures. (newsbytesapp.com) ### What did Nvidia’s quarter show about the other side of the market? Nvidia reported $81.62 billion in first-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings per share of $1.87, according to earnings coverage published on May 20 and May 21. Data center revenue reached $75.2 billion, accounting for the large majority of sales, according to multiple reports summarizing the company’s results. (cnbc.com) Nvidia also guided to about $91 billion in second-quarter revenue, according to coverage of the earnings release. The company’s results showed that AI spending is still concentrated in chips and cloud infrastructure, with data center demand driving most of the growth. That characterization is supported by Nvidia’s segment mix and reported guidance. (digitaltoday.co.kr) ### So what does the pairing of these two updates show? Anthropic’s projected first profitable quarter and Nvidia’s record revenue point to the same pattern: enterprise customers are spending enough on AI services to lift model-provider revenue, while suppliers of the underlying computing infrastructure continue to capture a large share of the economics. (digitaltoday.co.kr) The next hard checkpoints are close. Anthropic’s June-quarter results will determine whether the projected profit materializes, and Nvidia’s next quarter will show whether its forecast of about $91 billion in revenue holds as demand for AI infrastructure continues. (cnbc.com)