(June 9): OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, filed confidentially for an IPO, joining artificial intelligence (AI) rivals in tapping public markets to fund ambitious growth plans.
The Sam Altman-led firm submitted paperwork for an initial public offering with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said on Monday. OpenAI is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley on a potential listing as soon as in the fall, people familiar with the matter have said.
OpenAI reportedly missed certain internal revenue and user growth targets. Several key executives have departed or stepped back from their roles. And the company has been working to streamline its sprawling product lineup.
Anthropic, the start-up behind the chatbot Claude, said last week that it had filed confidentially for an IPO of its own. The company also leaped to a US$965 billion ($1.24 trillion) valuation in its latest private funding round — above OpenAI’s for the first time — as its revenue surged.
A public debut in 2026 would also pit Altman squarely against Elon Musk on a different plane than the failed lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO. SpaceX, Musk’s rocket, satellite and AI firm, is targeting an IPO at a valuation of roughly US$1.8 trillion on Thursday, which would immediately make it one of the world’s most valuable public companies.
OpenAI has already dwarfed even SpaceX’s IPO in a single funding round. The company completed a deal to raise US$122 billion from investors at an US$852 billion valuation.
See also: Carlsberg near filing for US$700 mil India IPO — Bloomberg
AI companies are racing to raise tens of billions of dollars to buy chips and data centres and build more advanced AI systems. In February, OpenAI told investors it was planning to spend about US$600 billion on AI infrastructure by 2030.
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