Anthropic in ETFs: How Investors Can Gain Exposure

What Is Anthropic?

Anthropic is an artificial intelligence company best known for Claude, its family of generative AI models and tools tailored for software coding, research, and enterprise automation. The company has focused heavily on business customers and usage-based applications such as Claude Code, helping position it as one of the leading private competitors in the emerging AI market.

Anthropic also sits near the center of the AI infrastructure buildout. Its growth requires significant amounts of computing capacity, creating connections across cloud computing, semiconductors, memory, networking, and data centers. Its latest funding round included strategic infrastructure participants such as Micron, Samsung, and SK hynix, alongside previously committed hyperscaler investments.

That makes Anthropic relevant even for investors who never ultimately own the stock itself. Strong demand for Claude can translate into greater demand for the infrastructure required to train and run its models, which helps explain why Anthropic’s latest financial figures were particularly supportive of semiconductor stocks.

For public-market investors seeking exposure before an IPO, ETFs are becoming one of the few accessible options — but the amount of Anthropic investors actually receive varies considerably.

ETFs With Anthropic

At least eight U.S.-listed ETFs currently provide direct exposure to Anthropic. They range from concentrated growth portfolios and dedicated AI strategies to much broader large-cap funds where Anthropic remains a relatively small satellite position.

• The Alger Concentrated Equity ETF (CNEQ) currently has roughly 2.5% allocated to Anthropic (as of August 19), making it one of the more meaningful ETF exposures available. CNEQ maintains a concentrated portfolio of 30 or fewer companies identified through fundamental research as having strong growth potential, with large positions in technology and AI-related companies including Nvidia Corp. (NVDA), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Alphabet Inc. (GOOG), and Broadcom Inc. (AVGO).
• Alger also holds Anthropic through the Alger 35 ETF (ATFV), where the company recently represented 1.3% of the portfolio. ATFV is another high-conviction growth strategy, investing in approximately 35 of the Alger research team’s best ideas across some of the market’s most disrupted industries.
• A third Alger strategy, the Alger AI Enablers & Adopters ETF (ALAI), is one of the most directly aligned with the theme. Anthropic recently accounted for about 1.8% of the fund, which invests in companies that Alger believes can benefit from developing, enabling, adopting, or utilizing artificial intelligence. Unlike CNEQ and ATFV, AI is the central investment thesis rather than simply an important source of growth opportunities.
• The Tema Photonics & Optical ETF (LAZR) offers another approach. The fund primarily invests in companies enabling faster data movement between chips, servers, and data centers, while Anthropic represented 2.3% of assets through a special purpose vehicle (SPV). The combination is notable because it pairs direct exposure to an AI model developer with the photonics and optical infrastructure that could benefit as AI compute requirements increase. (See my previous research note on photonics ETFs including LAZR.)
• The KraneShares Public-Private AI & Technology ETF (AGIX) is specifically designed to combine publicly traded AI companies with private-market exposure. Anthropic is currently its largest private holding at 1.9% of its weight. The portfolio also holds private companies such as Apptronik, Ayar Labs, Nuro, and Polymarket. The rest of the fund spans the broader AI ecosystem, including hardware, infrastructure, and applications.
• The iShares A.I. Innovation and Tech Active ETF (BAI) provides exposure across the AI technology stack, including infrastructure, intelligence, and applications. Anthropic represents around 0.75% of the portfolio. Anthropic remains a relatively small piece of BAI, which is primarily driven by public semiconductor and AI infrastructure companies such as Micron Technology (MU), Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Broadcom.
• The T. Rowe Price Technology ETF (TTEQ) is an actively managed technology strategy. Anthropic represented roughly 0.75% of the portfolio in early August, giving investors a relatively small direct stake alongside the fund’s broader exposure to global technology and other private companies. TTEQ generally targets a portfolio of 40 to 50 companies. It can invest across technology-related industries beyond the traditional information technology sector.
• The T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF (TCAF) takes the broadest approach. Anthropic represents around 0.65% of the portfolio. That makes it a relatively small satellite position within a diversified large-cap strategy rather than a dedicated AI allocation. For TCAF investors, Anthropic offers incremental private-market exposure. However, the fund’s performance will remain primarily driven by its much broader portfolio.
• Certain ETFs do not directly invest in Anthropic, but benefit from its growth. The Anthropic AI Lab Ecosystem ETF (ANTW) explores companies most directly connected to Anthropic’s AI ecosystem, including cloud, data center, power, and infrastructure providers. Top holdings currently include TeraWulf (WULF), Alphabet (GOOGL), and Amazon (AMZN). Unlike several other ETFs discussed here, ANTW provides indirect exposure to Anthropic’s growth rather than holding Anthropic itself. (VettaFi recently covered the five new Harbor AI ecosystem ETFs including Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Meta, and SpaceX ecosystems.)

Not All Exposure Is Equal

Investors should consider what else sits alongside the Anthropic position. CNEQ and ATFV offer growth exposure. ALAI, AGIX, and BAI embed Anthropic within a broader AI thesis, while LAZR combines it with AI infrastructure. TTEQ offers broader active technology exposure, and TCAF incorporates it into a diversified large-cap portfolio. These are very different investment propositions, even though all can technically be described as ETFs that own Anthropic. None of these are intended to serve as vehicles to invest primarily in Anthropic.

Private Exposure Brings Different Risks

Investing in Anthropic through ETFs can give public market investors indirect access to a high-profile private AI company that they otherwise could not easily own, appealing to investors looking for exposure to the next generation of AI leaders before a potential IPO.

ETFs can also spread that exposure across a broader portfolio rather than tying returns to Anthropic alone. Depending on the fund, investors may also gain exposure to other private technology companies like OpenAI, AI infrastructure providers, or publicly traded beneficiaries of AI growth.

There are important trade-offs, however. Private company holdings can be harder to value and less liquid than publicly traded stocks. (Read more on private market ETFs.)

Bottom Line:

ETFs can serve as a diversified point of early access to pre-IPO private companies. However, investors should look beyond the headline that an ETF owns Anthropic. A less than 1% allocation means that broader public market movements rather than Anthropic alone predominately drive overall ETF performance.

Originally posted on ETF Trends

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