Anthropic & OpenAI Services Efforts Reflect Value Prop & Valuation Disconnect

Research evidence excerpt

Anthropic & OpenAI Services Efforts Reflect Value Prop & Valuation Disconnect

TD SECURITIES (USA) LLC QUICK TAKE: INDUSTRY UPDATE

May 22, 2026

■Computer Services & IT Consulting Anthropic & OpenAI Services Efforts Reflect

Value Prop & Valuation Disconnect

Bryan C. Bergin, CFA THE TD COWEN INSIGHT

646 562 1369

JV/M&A developments from OpenAI & Anthropic reflect robust AI demand & deployment

bryan.bergin@tdsecurities.com

challenges that support room for multiple models & reflect validation vs existential threat. The

Gates Schwarzmann catalyst for a change isn't immediate, but ironically, the AI-native revenue in select Services

646 562 1363 companies on standalone bases would likely be valued above entire public co valuations

gates.schwarzmann@tdsecurities.com

today. We dig into the debate.

Foundational LLM Services Activity Reflects Robust AI Demand, Ample

Whitespace and Deployment Challenges

Over the last ~3 weeks, OpenAI and Anthropic announced respective Services/Consulting joint

ventures (backed by notable PE/VC investors) to tackle AI services, alongside tuck-in M&A to

establish initial cores of forward deployed engineers (FDEs). While we appreciate the negative

headline perception that presumes Consulting/Services company displacement risk, we

believe there are fundamental differences that the resultant stock pressure underappreciates.

There may be incidents of minor competition for GSIs, but these actions are tangible proof

points that deployment is not as easy as advertised/perceived by Street, particularly for

established companies. It signals a clear need for deep & specialized engineering muscle to

scale AI systems effectively. Further, these actions are far from scaled, and these relations