IPO Investors Grow More Selective as AI Infrastructure Borrowing Expands

U.S. IPO investors are weighing companies and offer prices more carefully, while separate figures show heavy borrowing for AI infrastructure alongside $163 billion in U.S. IPO proceeds through Oct. 15.

Companies had raised more than three times the prior year’s total in U.S. IPOs by Oct. 15. The figure excludes blank-check companies and other investment vehicles. In September, five sizable companies raised $1.9 billion, the slowest monthly total since March.

Aloke Gupte, Citi’s co-head of global equity capital markets, said investors were looking more closely at how IPO candidates differ and what their shares are worth. “There’s got to be a little bit of differentiation in terms of how we evaluate what we buy and at what price,” he said. His comments concerned IPO investors broadly and did not single out AI-linked offerings.

As of Oct. 15, seven among the year’s 10 biggest U.S. listings traded below their offer prices, despite strong year-to-date proceeds and a weaker September.

Separately, hyperscalers had issued more than $200 billion in debt. Their gross corporate bond issuance topped $100 billion in 2025. Credit-default swap spreads rose, particularly for lower-rated hyperscalers, amid the volume of borrowing and uncertainty about whether projects will deliver expected payoffs. The financing concerns overlap with risks tied to neocloud debt.

Anthropic said June 1 that it had confidentially submitted a draft Form S-1 registration statement for a proposed IPO. The offering depends on market conditions and other factors, and the company had not set the number of shares or the price.