UPDATE: New reports confirm that Anthropic has overtaken OpenAI as the leading provider of business-focused large language models (LLMs), capturing a staggering 32% of enterprise usage as of mid-2025. This rapid rise is reshaping the AI landscape, signifying a shift in how organizations approach AI deployment.
The latest data from Menlo Ventures, a prominent venture capital firm and investor in Anthropic, reveals that the company has achieved 1,000% year-over-year growth, reaching $3 billion in annual recurring revenue. This performance underscores a critical transition in the enterprise AI sector, where the demand for high-quality programming tools is surging.
While many still associate business AI with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the reality is shifting dramatically. Anthropic’s models, particularly the Claude Sonnet and Claude Opus, have led the charge, with developers favoring Claude for programming tasks. In fact, Claude now commands a remarkable 42% market share in AI code generation, significantly outpacing OpenAI’s 21% share.
The implications of this shift are profound. As businesses increasingly adopt AI solutions in production—74% of startups and 49% of large enterprises report heavy usage—performance becomes the key driver for choosing LLMs, rather than cost. Menlo Ventures highlights that organizations are ready to invest in the best-performing models as capabilities rapidly evolve.
Anthropic’s success stems from its innovative use of reinforcement learning with verifiable rewards (RLVR), allowing for precise feedback on model outputs. This methodology enhances the quality of AI-generated code, making it a favorite among developers. Moreover, the introduction of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) has enabled Anthropic’s LLMs to integrate seamlessly with real-world tools and data, improving their utility and effectiveness.
Despite the explosion of interest in proprietary models like those offered by Anthropic, the open-source AI sector is struggling. Open-source LLMs have dropped to 13% of AI workloads, a decline from 19% just six months ago. Companies are hesitant to adopt these models due to performance disparities, as well as concerns about the origins of many leading open-source solutions.
Looking ahead, the future of AI remains uncertain. Menlo Ventures warns that the market is volatile, with rapid advancements in model capabilities and ongoing shifts in enterprise priorities. The question now is whether Anthropic can maintain its lead against formidable competitors like Google and Meta, or if new contenders will emerge.
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