Fortune Tech: Anthropic IPO, Trump digs data centers, SuperMicro’s investigation

August 21, 2026

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Good morning. Did you hear about China’s robocop? The 6-foot-2-inch droid, deputized by the authorities in Hangzhou, is more mall cop than terminator (its limited duties include waving traffic and admonishing jaywalkers). But following Wednesday’s blockbuster IPO of Unitree, a Chinese robotics company whose shares popped 460% on their first day trading, it’s clear that China is having a humanoid moment.

All the buzz coming out of China is likely to spur calls for America to up its humanoid game (we got humanoids too!), lest we get left behind. So, get ready for the next big trans-Pacific rivalry: the U.S.—China humanoid race.

Today’s tech news below. —Alexei Oreskovic

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Anthropic IPO won’t be eclipsed by SpaceX

It feels like just yesterday that SpaceX smashed the IPO record books with its $75 billion mega-offering ($86.2 billion if you count the over-allotment). But there are two other AI behemoths still waiting in the wings for their turn to go public, and at least one of them has no intention of being eclipsed by Elon Musk.

Anthropic plans to “match or beat” the size of SpaceX’s IPO, according to a Bloomberg report citing anonymous sources. It’s unclear what valuation Anthropic is seeking (Bloomberg said CFO Krishna Rao “skirted” the question in recent briefings with investors) but if it wants to claim that title as well, the SpaceX number to beat is $1.77 trillion.

That’s a fair amount of ground to gain for Anthropic, which was valued in May by private investors at $965 billion and is expected to go public in the coming months. But then again, there’s nothing rational about SpaceX’s valuation, so who knows. As for the AI industry’s other IPO hopeful—OpenAI—the company is believed to be aiming for a 2027 debut. —AO

Trump swims against the data center hate

Data centers have managed to unite both sides of the political aisle: Democrats and Republicans both hate them. The massive facilities being constructed across the U.S. at a frenzied pace are bad for the environment and bad for regular folks’ electric bills, critics fume.

With the midterms fast approaching however, President Donald Trump believes data centers are a political asset rather than a liability.

“If I were the mayor of a town or the governor of a state, and I had a chance to get a big plant in, an AI plant or a data center,” Trump said at an event with cryptocurrency leaders at the White House this week. “I would absolutely want it because the jobs are enormous and the money paid, the taxes paid, are just enormous.” Read more here. —AO

Super Micro says CEO is no smuggler

Super Micro Computer said on Thursday that an independent investigation led by its board found no evidence that current members of senior management knew about an alleged scheme to smuggle $2.5 billion in hardware packed with Nvidia chips to China.

The announcement was meant to clear the air for investors after a shaky five months following the U.S. Department of Justice’s March indictment of co-founder and board member Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw.

But questions remain despite Thursday’s announcement of the investigation results; the server manufacturing company offered scant details about what specifically was found in the investigation, only that the board did not find evidence the CEO and senior management were aware of the alleged smuggling ring. Meanwhile, a parallel probe by authorities in Taiwan led to four Supermicro employees being detained for questioning last month in connection with Supermicro sales to a tech company, and Supermicro recently received a federal grand jury subpoena in New York. —Amanda Gerut