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)