It’s been quite quiet on the IPO front in recent quarters, but this may very well be the calm before the storm, especially if 2026 marks the year when a number of the frontier AI model makers (think OpenAI and Anthropic) look to go public.

At this juncture, the AI trade has entered a rather volatile period. Add the Iran situation into the equation, and it’s become a bit of an unnerving time to put any sort of new money to work, especially in a risk-on kind of stock with heavy expenditures and nothing but question marks surrounding what kind of return we can come to expect.

It’s times like these when it might be a good time to go against the grain. After all, not much has changed about the AI boom in recent weeks, perhaps other than the willingness of investors to pay the high prices once commanded just a few months ago.

AI stocks are stalling in the first quarter. Will that impact the AI IPO timeline?

Either way, the longer this AI fatigue lasts, especially for the Magnificent Seven, the higher the odds that big-name AI IPOs will be pushed out further down the road, at least in my humble opinion. Of course, I could be wrong, and some of the biggest IPOs Wall Street has ever seen could still be a go. In that case, perhaps such hot issues could jolt the lagging AI names back to life.

It’s hard to tell whether 2026 is the year or if it’ll have to wait until 2027, but the following pair are worth following. Arguably, they’re already on the radars of investors, but the big question remains whether it makes sense to pick up a stake when the time comes.

OpenAI

First up, we have the firm that started it all with the release of ChatGPT just a few years ago. The company has been raising capital from the heavyweights and, in due time, it might look to test its luck on the public markets as it potentially looks to set a high bar at a $1 trillion valuation. Of course, a trillion-dollar IPO is unheard of, and OpenAI probably won’t be the last heavyweight to make a big splash on the public markets in its debut.

As it stands today, the valuation is some hundreds of billions shy of $1 trillion. While OpenAI has garnered criticism surrounding the state of its financial situation, the company does look ready to monetize via ads. Of course, fellow AI combatant Anthropic took some swift jabs at the ad model at this year’s Super Bowl. But despite how funny and absurd the ad spot was, I think investors might wish to wait and see how ads go for OpenAI before jumping ship to the likes of Anthropic’s Claude.

Either way, Anthropic’s ads seem to have had an impact, with Claude downloads picking up since. Add momentum behind Claude Code and Cowork into the equation, and it certainly seems like the fight is on in what could be the greatest tech rivalry of all-time.

Anthropic

Anthropic is going about advancing with a greater emphasis on efficiency, rather than sheer aggression. Its enterprise and “safety-first” focus may very well reserve the firm’s spot at the front of the AI pack. But, for now, its valuation is closer to $400 billion. Of course, that’s still massive for an IPO, but, in due time, expect the race to get tighter, especially if Claude Code remains all the rage.

With Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) recently collaborating with Anthropic despite being the most notable investor in OpenAI, the potential is definitely there.

Between the two big-league AI IPOs, my guess is that Anthropic will be a hotter issue on day one, whenever that may be, especially if the firm’s coding tools continue to put the software industry on the ropes. In the meantime, I’d look for either the second half of 2026 or the start of 2027 to be the moment the AI race gets that much more interesting for the retail crowd.

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