Appeals court upholds Anthropic's national-security risk designation
A California court order blocking a broader government ban on Anthropic's technology stays in place for now, even as the Pentagon ruling stands.
Published
A federal appeals court has upheld the Trump administration's designation of Anthropic as a national-security supply-chain risk. The court found the Pentagon had sufficient grounds for the designation after talks over a military contract for Anthropic's Claude model broke down.
A separate order from a California court, which blocks a broader government ban on Anthropic's technology, remains in effect. Anthropic said it disagrees with the appeals court ruling and is considering further legal action.
Anthropic's contracted business value exceeds $180 billion, a figure Nvidia has given. Nvidia has also raised its own share buyback authorization by $150 billion, bringing its total commitments to $279 billion, as it carries $180 billion of exposure to Anthropic ahead of the company's planned November IPO. Anthropic has separately locked in tens of billions of dollars in compute commitments from Akamai and Nvidia, and its executives have met directly with President Trump.
The ruling confirms the risk flagged when the designation first surfaced, rather than resolving it. It adds a real Pentagon-contract overhang just as Anthropic's commercial position looks stronger, but the California injunction still shields its day-to-day operations, so the near-term business impact stays limited even as the political risk around the company rises.