As Anthropic prepares for its public market debut, a growing number of Americans are voicing concerns about artificial intelligence and actively opposing the construction of new data centers.

According to sources familiar with the matter, this wave of public backlash is expected to be highlighted as a major risk factor in Anthropic's IPO prospectus.

Anthropic has been conducting preliminary "pitch-style" meetings with bankers and investors in San Francisco. During these sessions, Chief Financial Officer Krishna Rao has fielded repeated questions regarding competitive dynamics, margin pressures stemming from open-source models, and the potential fallout from a slowdown in data center construction.

Insiders suggest that investors anticipate Anthropic could surpass the IPO record set by SpaceX, with some projections valuing the company at roughly $2 trillion.

Similar to its rival OpenAI, Anthropic is pressing its infrastructure partners to accelerate construction efforts to keep pace with demand for advanced models and new services. This year, major tech companies are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into capital expenditures to expand data centers and secure the necessary GPUs to fill them.

However, public sentiment appears to be turning against these efforts.

Seven in Ten Americans Oppose Data Center Expansion

A Gallup survey released in May found that 70% of Americans oppose the development of AI data centers in their local areas, with nearly half of those respondents expressing strong opposition. Only about a quarter of those surveyed said they were in favor.

With the midterm elections approaching in less than three months, politicians from both parties are voicing resistance to data center growth, reflecting growing voter discontent.

The data center issue became a central topic in Tuesday's Republican gubernatorial primary in Florida. Representative Byron Donalds, who won the primary, has proposed restrictions on data centers in the state. On the same day, Pennsylvania's Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order establishing stringent requirements for data center development in his state.

Companies are required to disclose risk factors in their prospectuses to meet investor disclosure obligations and secure legal protections. For instance, SpaceX's risk factors section noted: "Adverse global macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions could negatively impact our business, financial condition, results of operations, and future prospects."

For an AI lab like Anthropic, whose private market valuation is approaching $1 trillion, computing capacity is directly tied to revenue. According to earlier reports, the company's annualized revenue has just surpassed $65 billion, and any slowdown in data center construction could dampen its strong growth trajectory.