Ramp data shows AI spending stalling just as Anthropic nears its IPO

Ramp data shows that AI spending has flatlined even as token usage volumes continue to rise, with token spend growing only 1.5% across August and September compared to 42% in July. This slowdown is attributed to price cuts from OpenAI and Anthropic, enterprise discounts, and customers becoming more efficient at managing AI costs through techniques like default models and budget controls. The most AI-intensive firms (top 1%) have reduced spending below their summer peaks of $10,000 per employee, which is sufficient to slow overall revenue growth despite volume increases. Ramp's lead economist Ara Kharazian suggests the era of hypergrowth may be over and questions whether new use cases will drive continued expansion. The spending stall comes as Anthropic prepares for its IPO, with its valuation reportedly dropping from $2 trillion to $1.2-1.3 trillion, and OpenAI also lowering its valuation and fundraising targets. While October saw an 8.9% reacceleration in token spend, Kharazian identifies strong headwinds including intense competition from Meta, Nvidia, open-source models, and new tools like Jev that enable simpler, cheaper AI solutions.

(Source：TechCrunch)