Anthropic executives say Pentagon blacklisting could hit billions in sales, harm reputation

March 9 (Reuters) - Anthropic executives said the U.S. government's blacklisting of the AI firm could cut its 2026 revenue by multiple billions of dollars and cause reputational harm.

    The company filed a lawsuit on Monday to block the Pentagon from placing it on a national security blacklist, escalating its high-stakes battle with the U.S. military over usage restrictions on its technology.

Here is what its top executives said in federal court filings:

CFO KRISHNA RAO

* "Across Anthropic's entire business, and adjusting for howlikely any given customer is to take a maximal reading, thegovernment's actions could reduce Anthropic's 2026 revenue bymultiple billions of dollars." * If the government's actions are allowed to stand, theimpact to Anthropic would be "almost impossible to reverse". * Anthropic projects that hundreds of millions of dollars in2026 revenue may be at risk related solely to work carried outfor the Department of Defense. * The actions could undermine investors' confidence inAnthropic and will increase Anthropic's costs to raise the fundsit needs to operate. * Anthropic could lose 50% to 100% in revenue from defensecontractors and others with dependence on the DefenseDepartment.

HEAD OF PUBLIC SECTOR THIYAGU RAMASAMY

* "The government's actions immediately and irreparably harmAnthropic. The designation also impugns Anthropic's integrityand reputation as a trusted partner, having a real butincalculable effect on sales to non-governmental customers." * Expect immediate loss of more than $150 million in annualrecurring revenue tied to existing and expected DefenseDepartment contracts. * From December 2025 to January 2026, Anthropic saw afourfold increase in annual recurring revenue run rate frompublic sector customers; business in the next five years wasprojected to increase to multiple billions * If defense contractors cut ties, the firm's expectedpublic sector annual recurring revenue of more than half abillion dollars in 2026 could "shrink substantially or disappearaltogether".

CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER PAUL SMITH

* A partner with a multi-million-dollar annual contractswitched from Claude to a rival generative AI model for a U.S.Food and Drug Administration deployment, eliminating ananticipated revenue pipeline of more than $100 million. * Negotiations with financial institutions worth roughly$180 million combined have been disrupted, a $15 millioncontract was paused, and one fintech customer cut a contractfrom $10 million to $5 million, saying the "situation" with thePentagon made them unwilling to commit to spending more onClaude. * Anthropic has received inquiries from more than 100enterprise customers expressing "deep fear, confusion and doubt"about the repercussions of associating with the company".

(Reporting by Juby Babu and Chris Thomas in Mexico City; Editing by Sonali Paul)