Anthropic Files for IPO This Month Targeting $2 Trillion Valuation

* Editor's note: AI PRISM (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an AI-based personalized news recommendation and summary service developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six tailored news items by reader type.

1. Anthropic, Valued at $2 Trillion, Files for IPO This Month as AI Job Landscape Shifts

Summary: Anthropic will publicly file its IPO application late this month, targeting a $2 trillion valuation that exceeds SpaceX ($1.77 trillion). Second-quarter revenue surged 14.6-fold from a year earlier to $11.5 billion, and annualized revenue reached $65 billion as of the end of July, seven times the level at the end of last year. Corporate contracts with large companies such as JPMorgan, Netflix and Salesforce are growing, and new products such as Claude Code and Claude Cowork are creating a stir. As AI companies enter a phase of absorbing capital on the scale of traditional Big Tech, hiring in AI engineering, corporate sales and product planning roles is expected to expand.

2. Samsung, SK Race to Secure Chip Production Hubs, Investing Broadly Beyond Korea to the U.S. and Japan

Summary: Samsung Electronics is investing a total of $37 billion in its Taylor foundry in Texas and pushing to expand 1.4-nanometer process capacity, while at home it has decided to build a 400 trillion won memory fab in the Honam region. SK hynix will break ground on the 27th of this month on a $3.87 billion packaging fab in Indiana and is reportedly also reviewing the construction of a new memory fab in Japan. Both companies are pursuing a strategy of simultaneously expanding supply to Big Tech and strengthening cooperation with local materials, parts and equipment firms, with the aim of blocking market erosion by China's CXMT and YMTC. Demand for on-site personnel is expected to increase across the entire chip process, from design to foundry to HBM packaging, creating a favorable environment for graduates in semiconductor-related fields.

3. Two Engines: Kakao Spins Off Into 'AI' and 'X'

Summary: Kakao announced on the 21st that its board had approved a spin-off into Kakao AI (a newly established entity) and Kakao X (the surviving entity). Kakao AI will serve as an "AI core company" connecting KakaoTalk-based AI, advertising and commerce, while Kakao X will handle the discovery of new businesses and investment in innovative companies using 6.4 trillion won. The split ratio is 0.36 for Kakao AI and 0.64 for Kakao X, with relisting planned for the 27th of the same month after the spin-off is completed on January 1, 2027. As more platform companies separate their AI operations into independent entities, the organizational standing of AI product, data and ML roles is on the rise, analysts say.

4. 97% of the World's Humanoids Are Made in China; First-Half Shipments Top 40,000 Units

Summary: China's humanoid robot shipments exceeded 40,000 units in the first half of this year, accounting for 97% of global shipments, according to an announcement at the World Robot Conference (WRC). Robotplus unveiled a robot that uses magnets to climb steel walls and inspect a tank in four days, while DEEP Robotics showcased an industrial humanoid that operates in extreme environments ranging from minus 20 to plus 55 degrees Celsius. Wang Xingxing, founder of Unitree, said, "The moment a humanoid can perform 80% of a given task in an unfamiliar environment will be the humanoid's ChatGPT moment," predicting that a technological turning point could come within two to three years at the earliest. With demand growing for personnel in robot software, AI control and sensor fusion, this is seen as a moment when graduates in robotics and AI can explore new career paths.