Investors in mainland China and Hong Kong are being excluded from Anthropic’s initial public offering, according to Bloomberg reporting summarized by The Decoder. Multiple banks involved in the deal have reportedly rejected orders from those regions or indicated that allocations are unlikely.
Some participants cited the US International Traffic in Arms Regulations, or ITAR, which governs exports of defense-related technology. The report does not establish a single public rule applied uniformly by every bank, and Anthropic declined to comment. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading the offering alongside 20 other banks. Pricing is expected on November 18, with shares planned for Nasdaq under the ticker ANT.
The restriction fits Anthropic’s already adversarial relationship with the Chinese market. Claude is not officially available in mainland China or Hong Kong, and the company blocks organizations under Chinese control from its services. Anthropic has also reported attempts by Chinese AI companies to extract model behavior through millions of queries.
The IPO limits show how technology controls can extend beyond product sales and chip shipments into capital markets. Investors should still treat the details as reported deal practice rather than a formal Anthropic policy until the company or underwriters publish their allocation rules.