Anthropic is having a remarkable month, and the latest twist in its relationship with the Trump administration may actually be helping rather than hurting its business prospects.
According to data compiled by Ara Kharazian, Ramp's lead economist and the person behind the business-spending AI tracking data, Anthropic experienced its best month on record for business adoption during the same month that the Department of Defense labeled the company a supply-chain risk. This apparent counterintuitive trend suggests that controversy can boost perceived value in the AI market.
"If anything, it'll probably boost them," Kharazian told TechCrunch. "Anthropic's best month on record, as far as business adoption, was the month that the Department of Defense labeled them a supply-chain risk. There's a lot of aura that comes with your model specifically being named too dangerous to use."
Business Adoption Soars Despite Government Pushback
Ramp's data isn't granular enough to show exactly how much of a financial hit Anthropic will take by pulling Mythos and Fable 5 off the market, but the broader trend is clear. The platform, which serves over 70,000 businesses, shows that customers heavily use Anthropic's Opus models and that business adoption has been growing steadily.
Beyond subscription fees, the vast majority of what companies spend money on is API calls to Anthropic's models. These API transactions cover token usage for activities like coding, content generation, and data analysis. Anthropic's Claude Code has developed a strong reputation as a powerful AI coding tool, making it an essential part of many development workflows.
The Opus Model Dominance
When Ramp can see the specific model details—about one-third of transactions—the data shows that businesses are mostly spending on various flavors of Claude Opus, particularly the later versions. Opus is the model that preceded Mythos and remains openly available for businesses.
Mythos had only been on the market briefly, having been released to limited users as of April. Fable 5 was shut down after just a few days of availability. The short lifespans of these high-powered models raise questions about Anthropic's product strategy, but they haven't affected the company's core business.
Regulatory Scrutiny as a Business Catalyst
The irony is that the very regulatory scrutiny which forced Anthropic to pull its latest models appears to have boosted its overall market presence. When the Department of Defense classified Anthropic as a supply-chain risk, it gave the company an unusual kind of credibility in certain enterprise circles. The perception that Anthropic's models are "too dangerous to use" ironically signals power and capability in an industry where safety and reliability are paramount concerns.
This dynamic—where government restrictions paradoxically enhance a company's perceived value—is not unprecedented in the tech industry, but it's particularly pronounced with AI models that approach human-level reasoning capabilities.
Looking Ahead to IPO
While Ramp's numbers indicate that Anthropic's available models are more popular with businesses than ever before, the company still faces challenges ahead. Public-market investors tend to be wary of companies embroiled in controversies with the government, which could complicate Anthropic's plans to go public as originally hoped. The current administration's regulatory stance may create headwinds that the company must navigate carefully as it prepares for what would be one of the most closely watched tech IPOs in recent memory.
The data suggests Anthropic has a strong foundation, but the road to public markets may be rockier than anticipated. How the company manages its regulatory relations in coming months could prove as important to its success as any technical innovation it develops.
