RPT — BREAKINGVIEWS — Anthropic's $2 trln dream faces deflation trap

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.) By Karen Kwok NEW YORK, Oct 15 (Reuters Breakingviews) — Jevons paradox is an awkward ally for Anthropic. The old economic maxim holds that lower prices, thanks to more efficient computing, should attract enough new demand for AI to lift revenue. Yet third-quarter topline growth slowed to 45%, from 145% in the prior three months. This deceleration raises a question: can surging usage offset falling prices quickly enough to support the $2 trillion valuation Anthropic is seeking in an IPO? Anthropic told prospective investors in San Francisco on Wednesday that revenue reached $16.8 billion in the three months to September, people familiar with the matter told Breakingviews. That casts fresh light on Anthropic’s annualized revenue run rate — a frequently touted, but potentially misleading measure that’s partly extrapolated off customers’ volatile monthly consumption. Reuters previously reported that Anthropic's annualized revenue run rate had reached $65 billion by the end of July. That implies roughly $5.4 billion of revenue for that month. To reach the remainder of the third quarter's haul, August