Anthropic's Market Impact: A Flow Analysis of AI-Driven Selloffs

The trigger was precise. On Friday, Anthropic released a new batch of plugins for its Claude Cowork AI assistant, enabling it to handle work in narrow sectors like legal and finance. This direct threat to enterprise software workflows sparked an immediate, global selloff. Software, legal, and real estate stocks lost billions in value as investors pulled capital out of traditional business tools.

The impact was severe and specific. Shares of Thomson Reuters and legal-tech firm Legalzoom.com each fell more than 15% on Tuesday. Other enterprise software giants like Salesforce and Workday also declined earlier in the week. This wasn't a broad market dip; it was a targeted outflow from businesses whose products are now vulnerable to autonomous AI agents. The market's reaction framed this as a clear "winners and losers" landscape, where established software platforms face an existential threat.

The selloff exemplifies a brutal shift in investor sentiment. Analysts note the market has moved from a "every tech stock is a winner" mindset to one of heightened competition and volatility. The fear is that AI tools can now replace entire product teams, making current enterprise software stacks obsolete. This flow of capital out of traditional software businesses signals a fundamental reassessment of their long-term value.

Anthropic's Growth Trajectory: The Counter-Flow

While software stocks bleed value, Anthropic is experiencing an explosive inflow. The company's revenue is expected to more than quadruple this year and hit approximately $18 billion. This isn't just growth; it's a massive, ongoing transfer of capital into a single entity, directly counter to the outflow from traditional enterprise software.

The driver is insatiable demand for its AI models. This demand requires a colossal build-out of hardware infrastructure, creating a powerful downstream flow to key suppliers. Anthropic's operations are a major catalyst for companies like Nvidia, which provides the GPUs to train and run its models, and Broadcom, which supplies the connectivity chips and custom server hardware. The scale is evident in a single order: Broadcom recently revealed an order from Anthropic worth $10 billion for custom chips.

This sets up a stark, ongoing flow dynamic. Billions are being pulled from established software businesses to fund a new AI stack. For now, the capital is flowing into Anthropic's operations and its hardware partners, not into the public market. The company's projected sales of $55 billion next year suggest this counter-flow is just beginning.

The Catalyst and the Watchpoints

The immediate trigger was the release of industry-specific plug-ins for the Claude Cowork tool on Friday. This update, viewed as a direct threat to enterprise software workflows, sparked a broad selloff as investors panicked that AI tools could render traditional SaaS products obsolete.

The key watchpoints are clear. First, monitor Nvidia and Broadcom's data center revenue. These are the primary hardware beneficiaries of Anthropic's explosive growth and massive infrastructure build-out. Any sustained weakness in their guidance or orders would signal a potential slowdown in the AI capital flow. Second, track the recovery or further decline in software stock prices. The specific examples of Thomson Reuters and Legalzoom.com each falling more than 15% on Tuesday provide a concrete benchmark for the selloff's severity. If these stocks fail to stabilize or continue to drop, it confirms the market's ongoing reassessment of software valuations.