5 ms·

I don't get it. Why would Anthropic need to own a JS runtime?

by yanis_t 11mo ago

simonw 11mo ago
Because they have a product that makes $1bn+ a year that depends on having a good, stable, cross-platform JS runtime.
- LunaSea 11mo ago
  You're describing Node.js which has existed for the last 15 years
  - dboreham 11mo ago
    And is owned by Microsoft. The theory is that by symmetry Anthropic should own a node competitor.
    - joestrouth1 11mo ago
      Microsoft doesn't own node.
- krashidov 11mo ago
  I'm still confused. Why not just pour a ton of resources into it since it's open source. I guess dev mindshare? It is a great product
  - simonw 11mo ago
    Pouring a ton of resources into an open source project that raised $26m in VC doesn't guarantee that the project will stick around. Acquiring it does.
    - krashidov 11mo ago
      Buying Bun to ensure it sticks around doesn't pass the smell test unless they had very few months of runway left
      - simonw 11mo ago
        Bun had four years of runway left.
- sneak 11mo ago
  That doesn’t require or benefit from acquiring Bun. Node continues to exist and serve fine.
- altmanaltman 11mo ago
  but they are a company that burns billions every year in losses and this seems like a pretty random acquisition. Bun is the product that depends on providing that good, stable, cross-platform JS runtime and they were already doing a good job. Why would Anthropic's acquisition of them make them better at what they were already doing?
  - NewsaHackO 11mo ago
    >but they are a company that burns billions every year in losses No they don't.
    - altmanaltman 11mo ago
      > As discussed previously, OpenAI lost $5 billion and Anthropic $5.3 billion in 2024, with OpenAI expecting to lose upwards of $8 billion and Anthropic — somehow — only losing $3 billion in 2025. I have severe doubts that these numbers are realistic, with OpenAI burning at least $3 billion in cash on salaries this year alone, and Anthropic somehow burning two billion dollars less on revenue that has, if you believe its leaks, increased 500% since the beginning of the year. https://www.wheresyoured.at/why-everybody-is-losing-money-on-ai/ https://www.wheresyoured.at/why-everybody-is-losing-money-on...
      - NewsaHackO 11mo ago
        You may have posted the wrong link, because what you posted was not a source, but rather an amatuer blogger's oponion about what anthrotic's and OpenAI revenue and losses are. Do you have the correct link to actual evidence that Anthropic has losses in the billions?
        altmanaltman 11mo ago
        > Privately held companies often disclose revenue figures if they are growing quickly, but keep the rest of their finances a secret because they often tell a far less impressive story. The approach is especially true for AI developers that don’t want to disclose the extraordinary rate at which they are burning cash. The Journal is reporting Anthropic’s base case projections, not its more optimistic forecasts. > The Information earlier reported on some of the financial figures for both companies. > The documents show that OpenAI expects to burn $9 billion after generating $13 billion in sales this year, while Anthropic expects to burn almost $3 billion on $4.2 billion in sales—roughly 70% of revenue for both. https://archive.is/e7pg9 https://archive.is/e7pg9 / https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-anthropic-profitability-e9f5bcd6 https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-anthropic-profitability-e... (paywall)
- pzo 11mo ago
  Ok but node is even more stable and mature - compare node api parity in bun and also issue of bun vs node
  - the_mitsuhiko 11mo ago
    But they are not using node any more?
deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]
fprotthetarball 11mo ago
I'm wondering if Bun would be a good embedded runtime for Claude to think in. If it does sandboxing, or if they can add sandboxing, then they can standardize on a language and runtime for Claude Code and Claude Desktop and bake it into training like they do with other agentic things like tool calls. It'd be too risky to do unless they owned the runtime.
baq 11mo ago
Why would Sun then Oracle own Java? Why would Microsoft own .net? Why would Apple own swift? IOW look where the puck is going.

I don't get it. Why would Anthropic need to own a JS runtime?

by yanis_t 11mo ago

I don't get it. Why would Anthropic need to own a JS runtime?

simonw 11mo ago

Because they have a product that makes $1bn+ a year that depends on having a good, stable, cross-platform JS runtime.

LunaSea 11mo ago
You're describing Node.js which has existed for the last 15 years
- dboreham 11mo ago
  And is owned by Microsoft. The theory is that by symmetry Anthropic should own a node competitor.
  - joestrouth1 11mo ago
    Microsoft doesn't own node.
krashidov 11mo ago
I'm still confused. Why not just pour a ton of resources into it since it's open source. I guess dev mindshare? It is a great product
- simonw 11mo ago
  Pouring a ton of resources into an open source project that raised $26m in VC doesn't guarantee that the project will stick around. Acquiring it does.
  - krashidov 11mo ago
    Buying Bun to ensure it sticks around doesn't pass the smell test unless they had very few months of runway left
    - simonw 11mo ago
      Bun had four years of runway left.
sneak 11mo ago
That doesn’t require or benefit from acquiring Bun. Node continues to exist and serve fine.
altmanaltman 11mo ago
but they are a company that burns billions every year in losses and this seems like a pretty random acquisition. Bun is the product that depends on providing that good, stable, cross-platform JS runtime and they were already doing a good job. Why would Anthropic's acquisition of them make them better at what they were already doing?
- NewsaHackO 11mo ago
  >but they are a company that burns billions every year in losses No they don't.
  - altmanaltman 11mo ago
    > As discussed previously, OpenAI lost $5 billion and Anthropic $5.3 billion in 2024, with OpenAI expecting to lose upwards of $8 billion and Anthropic — somehow — only losing $3 billion in 2025. I have severe doubts that these numbers are realistic, with OpenAI burning at least $3 billion in cash on salaries this year alone, and Anthropic somehow burning two billion dollars less on revenue that has, if you believe its leaks, increased 500% since the beginning of the year. https://www.wheresyoured.at/why-everybody-is-losing-money-on-ai/ https://www.wheresyoured.at/why-everybody-is-losing-money-on...
    - NewsaHackO 11mo ago
      You may have posted the wrong link, because what you posted was not a source, but rather an amatuer blogger's oponion about what anthrotic's and OpenAI revenue and losses are. Do you have the correct link to actual evidence that Anthropic has losses in the billions?
      - altmanaltman 11mo ago
        > Privately held companies often disclose revenue figures if they are growing quickly, but keep the rest of their finances a secret because they often tell a far less impressive story. The approach is especially true for AI developers that don’t want to disclose the extraordinary rate at which they are burning cash. The Journal is reporting Anthropic’s base case projections, not its more optimistic forecasts. > The Information earlier reported on some of the financial figures for both companies. > The documents show that OpenAI expects to burn $9 billion after generating $13 billion in sales this year, while Anthropic expects to burn almost $3 billion on $4.2 billion in sales—roughly 70% of revenue for both. https://archive.is/e7pg9 https://archive.is/e7pg9 / https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-anthropic-profitability-e9f5bcd6 https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-anthropic-profitability-e... (paywall)
pzo 11mo ago
Ok but node is even more stable and mature - compare node api parity in bun and also issue of bun vs node
- the_mitsuhiko 11mo ago
  But they are not using node any more?

deleted 11mo ago

[deleted]

fprotthetarball 11mo ago

I'm wondering if Bun would be a good embedded runtime for Claude to think in. If it does sandboxing, or if they can add sandboxing, then they can standardize on a language and runtime for Claude Code and Claude Desktop and bake it into training like they do with other agentic things like tool calls. It'd be too risky to do unless they owned the runtime.

baq 11mo ago

Why would Sun then Oracle own Java? Why would Microsoft own .net? Why would Apple own swift? IOW look where the puck is going.