Anthropic and OpenAI now bringing in more money than Starbucks and McDonalds combined

Do you want AIs with that?Artificial intelligence giants Anthropic and OpenAI are now generating more cash than McDonald’s or Starbucks — as the AI boom dwarfs traditional American corporate giants.Anthropic — maker of Claude AI — is on track to bring in $71 billion in the next year, with OpenAI expected to have $49 billion in annual revenue, Axios reported.Starbucks is forecast to generate $37.2 billion in the same time period, and McDonald’s is set to sell $29.6 billion worth of Big Macs and fries, according to a study that took data from AI investment research platform Funda.The data shows that AI’s two largest brands are expected to generate almost as much revenue as McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Taco Bell and KFC parent company Yum Brands combined.The data shows just how colossal the AI spending boom is across corporate America — as companies invest hundreds of billions to modernize their operations and build AI into their workflow.Anthropic, which was founded only five years ago, has raised more than $100 billion, and was valued at $965 billion in May 2026, according to the company’s own figures.The company has secured major commercial customers across finance, healthcare, and technology, while growing existing partnerships with cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, Reuters reported.OpenAI also recently expanded its ChatGPT Enterprise program, as well as signing agreements with businesses seeking AI-powered productivity software.Starbucks and McDonald’s both trace their history back decades, and have more than 80,000 worldwide locations combined.But that appears to be no match for the astonishing speed at which businesses have adopted generative AI technologies.With Post wires....