The artificial intelligence (AI) revolution has produced two of the fastest-growing start-ups in history. OpenAI burst onto the scene in late 2022 when it launched ChatGPT, introducing consumers around the world to generative AI. Meanwhile, Anthropic has emerged as a formidable competitor with its Claude models.

Both companies' growth has been extraordinary. Following a $122 billion funding round in March, OpenAI reached a valuation of $852 billion, while Anthropic was valued at $965 billion after its Series H round in May. Naturally, AI investors are eager to know when they can buy shares.

Anthropic confidentially filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in June and could make its public debut as soon as next month. OpenAI has also explored going public, although its timing remains uncertain.

Here's an interesting alternative: Rather than waiting for either company to go public at a valuation approaching the trillion-dollar milestone, investors can buy Alphabet (GOOGL +1.05%) (GOOG +0.96%) instead. Alphabet stands to benefit regardless of which AI developer ultimately wins. Read on to learn why.

Google Cloud already benefits from OpenAI and Anthropic

One of Alphabet's quiet advantages is that it doesn't need its Gemini AI models to beat ChatGPT or Claude. That reason is Google Cloud provides compute infrastructure to its competitors. In May 2025, OpenAI agreed to use Google Cloud's capacity to train and deploy its AI models.

This relationship is particularly interesting because up to that point, OpenAI was primarily tied to Microsoft Azure. Adding Google provided OpenAI with an alternative source of AI compute while giving Alphabet a hyperscaler customer whose infrastructure requirements are enormous.

Anthropic's relationship with Google runs even deeper. In October 2025, Anthropic announced its use of Google's custom silicon, called Tensor Processing Units (TPUs). In April, this relationship was expanded to include multiple gigawatts of TPU capacity expected to come online in 2027.

These arrangements create an attractive business model for Alphabet because the company can develop AI products for consumers while simultaneously supplying infrastructure that competing enterprises need.

The strategy is already producing impressive results. During the second quarter, Google Cloud revenue surged 82% year over year to $24.8 billion. While not all of that growth came from OpenAI and Anthropic, their expanding infrastructure commitments underscore why Google Cloud should remain a major beneficiary of the AI boom.

GOOGL - Alphabet

$344.18+$3.59 (+1.05%)

NASDAQ · As of 4:00 PM ET 10/19/26

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Key data points

Market capMarket cap calculated using publicly traded shares outstanding only. Does not include unlisted, private, or dual-class non-traded shares. Implied market cap may vary.$4.21T

Day's range$341.85 - $346.58

52wk range$244.15 - $408.61

Volume211.9K

Avg volume26.7M

Gross margin60.94%

Dividend yield0.25%

Alphabet is sitting on a generational multibagger

Alphabet isn't just an infrastructure partner to Anthropic. It's also one of the company's largest investors. Google initially invested in Anthropic in 2023. But by early 2026, Alphabet had invested roughly $3 billion in Anthropic and owned an estimated 14% equity stake. In April, Google announced plans to invest up to another $40 billion. The deal was structured to include an initial $10 billion commitment, with an additional $30 billion contingent on Anthropic meeting certain performance milestones.

Why is Google investing so heavily in a company whose generative models compete directly with Gemini?

The answer is simple: Alphabet is positioned to benefit from Anthropic's success in multiple ways. First, its equity investment will appreciate as Anthropic's valuation increases. Additionally, Anthropic is a major customer for Google's cloud infrastructure and custom AI chips. Third, Google's tie-up with Anthropic gives it exposure to an alternative AI ecosystem, reducing its dependence on Gemini emerging as the industry's go-to model.

This is an unusually versatile position to be in. If Anthropic goes public at its reported $2 trillion valuation, a hypothetical 14% stake would be worth $280 billion. This shows how Alphabet can participate in one of the largest IPOs in history without investors needing to lift a finger and buy Anthropic stock directly.

Alphabet is less speculative than an IPO stock

OpenAI's valuation of $852 billion represents approximately 17 times its reported $50 billion annualized revenue run rate. Meanwhile, Anthropic's $965 billion valuation represents 14 times its Q3 annualized revenue run rate of $67.2 billion. At a $2 trillion IPO valuation, Anthropic would trade at nearly 30 times its current revenue run rate.

These are enormous premiums, especially considering the capital expenditures required to develop advanced AI. Moreover, OpenAI remains unprofitable while Anthropic recently reported a small profit on an adjusted operating basis.

Alphabet offers a much different financial profile. During Q2, the company generated $120 billion in revenue and roughly $40.8 billion in operating income. Alphabet stock trades around a 23 times forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio -- a relatively reasonable valuation considering its established and highly profitable advertising and cloud businesses.

While OpenAI and Anthropic could become respected public companies, their anticipated valuations already reflect high expectations. Alphabet offers investors exposure to both AI developers through Google Cloud, an existing equity stake in Anthropic, and its own growing AI ecosystem. Combined with its AI-driven revenue and robust profitability, I see Alphabet as the more compelling AI stock to buy and hold ahead of these anticipated mega-IPOs.