"AI Programming" Milestone: Claude Code "Reorganizes" the Global Software Industry

Anthropic's AI programming tool Claude Code is leading the global software development industry into a critical turning point. With its latest "Agentic" capabilities, the product has not only revolutionized the way code is written but has also achieved explosive growth in commercialization.

On January 22, technology media WIRED reported that Boris Cherny, head of Anthropic Claude Code, revealed in an interview that with the leap in underlying model capabilities, software development is shifting from manually written code to being fully agented by AI, a transformation that is reshaping engineers' work patterns and the productivity logic of the entire industry.

According to reports, insiders disclosed that Claude Code's annual recurring revenue (ARR) had further increased by at least $100 million by the end of 2025, following the product's announcement in November that its ARR had surpassed the $1 billion mark. Currently, Claude Code contributes 12% of Anthropic's total ARR of approximately $9 billion, making it one of the company's fastest-growing business segments.

This breakthrough is primarily attributed to the launch of Anthropic's latest AI model, Claude Opus 4.5, which is regarded by many developers as a "step-function" improvement in programming capabilities. Unlike earlier tools that could only perform code completion, Claude Code, based on the new model, can understand natural language instructions and autonomously complete subsequent development. This "agentification" trend has prompted startups, including Cursor and Windsurf, as well as tech giants like OpenAI, Google, and xAI, to accelerate their layouts and compete for shares in this emerging market.

As AI agent capabilities mature, Anthropic is attempting to replicate this "restructuring" model of the software industry in broader fields. The company recently launched a new product called Cowork, aimed at extending the functionalities of AI agents from programming terminals to general office scenarios such as file management and software interaction, attempting to spark a similar productivity revolution in non-programming areas.

From Auxiliary Tool to Core Productivity

The evolution of AI programming tools has exceeded expectations. According to Wired, from 2021 to 2024, most tools could only provide auto-completion features, suggesting a few lines of code as developers typed. By early 2025, startups like Cursor and Windsurf began to launch early "agent-style" programming products.

Boris Cherny, head of Claude Code, stated in an interview that Anthropic bet on the future development direction of AI capabilities during product design, rather than the actual level at that time. Cherny said:

"We built the simplest thing, and the craziest part is learning three months ago that half of Anthropic's sales team uses Claude Code every week."

This strategy has proven to be forward-looking. Cherny revealed that his personal use of Claude Code for coding increased from an initial 5% to 30% last May with the release of Opus 4 and Sonnet 4, and in the two months following the launch of Opus 4.5, His 100% of the code is written by Claude Code.

Reports indicate that Workera ultimately chose Claude Code after testing multiple AI programming tools. Katanforoosh stated that for the company's senior engineers, Claude Code outperformed competitors like Cursor and Windsurf.

Agency Model Changing Work Methods

The core advantage of Claude Code lies in its agency-style working model. Cherny explained that unlike a year ago when users primarily utilized chat functions, Claude Code and Cowork have truly realized agency, capable of using tools, reading system files, and interacting with Slack and Google Sheets.

"This is the golden age for attention-deficient individuals," Cherny said. The most efficient Claude Code users will launch multiple tasks simultaneously, allowing Claude to run each one, then check progress in sequence. Cherny himself typically runs five to ten agents simultaneously across terminal, mobile, and web platforms.

This working method is becoming popular within Anthropic. During an internal review meeting before the product's external release, CEO Dario Amodei asked whether employees would be required to use the product. In fact, nearly 100% of Anthropic's technical staff are frequently using Claude Code, with 95% of the team's code written by Claude Code.

Anthropic's enterprise clients also exhibit similar usage patterns. Cherny noted that enterprise clients have security needs and product interaction methods very similar to Anthropic itself, allowing the company to optimize the product through internal use.

Expanding into Non-Programming Fields

Building on the success of Claude Code, Anthropic launched Cowork this month, an AI agent product aimed at non-programmers that can manage files on users' computers and interact with software without touching coding terminals.

Cherny described Cowork as "Claude Code for non-programmers." He has begun using Cowork for project management, such as checking whether engineers have filled out work progress reports and reminding those who haven't through Slack.

"AI agents will be able to handle all the tedious tasks in life, which has already been realized in the engineering field this year, and I believe it will happen in all other fields. Agents will be able to handle tasks like filling out forms, moving data across different locations, sending emails, and more."

Cherny acknowledged that this shift will have disruptive effects that require a collective industry response. However, he believes it makes work more enjoyable and liberates people from tedious tasks.

Intensifying Competitive Landscape

The success of Claude Code is attracting more competitors into the AI programming market. Cursor announced last November that it had reached an annual recurring revenue of $1 billion, allowing users to program using models from Anthropic and other AI labs According to informed sources, Cursor achieved particularly strong month-over-month revenue growth in December.

OpenAI, Google, and xAI are also accelerating the development of agent-based programming products based on their own AI models, trying to capture a larger share of this market. The core of this competition lies in the capabilities of the underlying AI models, and the launch of Claude Opus 4.5 seems to give Anthropic a temporary advantage.

For engineers undergoing this transition, Cherny provides a historical perspective. His grandfather programmed using punch cards in the Soviet Union, and programming has since evolved through machine code, C language, Java, and Python.

"As an industry, we have been undergoing a transformation, which is an increasingly abstract process, and I think agents are just a point on this continuum."

Cherny expects that as the learning curve becomes smoother, effectively using tools like Claude Code and Cowork will become increasingly easier. Anthropic plans to achieve positive cash flow by 2028, with Claude Code playing a key role as one of the fastest-growing business segments in this goal