OpenAI, the Silicon Valley company behind ChatGPT, has taken a significant step toward becoming a publicly traded company. According to a report in Business-Today, the firm has confidentially filed paperwork for an initial public offering (IPO) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Confidential Filing Details
The filing remains confidential, so details such as the number of shares OpenAI plans to sell and their potential pricing have not been disclosed, Business-Today reported. The company acknowledged the decision to reveal the confidential filing, stating, "We expect it to leak." OpenAI described the pursuit of a public listing as "a complicated set of tradeoffs."
Despite the filing, OpenAI has not committed to a specific timeline for going public. The company told Business-Today, "It may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company." At the same time, the filing "gives us the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best." Just last week, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman told CNBC that he was in no rush to take the company public and would do so "when it makes sense."
Competitive Landscape
OpenAI's IPO announcement comes just a week after rival AI company Anthropic revealed plans for its own stock market debut, according to the report. Both companies are now vying to reach the public markets first, though neither has provided a timeline. Anthropic was co-founded by Dario Amodei after he left OpenAI following disagreements with Altman. Since then, the two firms have competed for users, corporate customers, and investors, as well as jostling for higher private market valuations.
Their listings also precede SpaceX's planned Nasdaq debut on Friday, June 12, 2026. SpaceX expects a share price that would value the company at $1.75 trillion (£1.3tn). The three offerings are expected to account for hundreds of billions of dollars in sales, making them a significant test of investor appetite for AI-focused businesses.
Financial Pressures
OpenAI's latest valuation stood at $852 billion after raising $122 billion in March, according to the Business-Today report. Despite its enormous valuation, OpenAI has faced growing pressure to prove it can generate the revenue needed to support its market worth. The transition to a public company would provide Wall Street with greater insight into OpenAI's finances at a time when the company is investing heavily in artificial intelligence infrastructure and computing resources.
One of the biggest expenses for AI companies is what the industry refers to as "compute" — the infrastructure and processing power required to build, train, test, and operate AI products. OpenAI's compute costs are estimated to exceed $100 billion annually, while its revenue remains only a fraction of that amount. Last November, OpenAI chief financial officer Sarah Friar drew attention after suggesting that the US government should "backstop" the company's spending on chips and data centres. She later walked back those remarks, Business-Today reported.
Expansion Beyond ChatGPT
Over the past year, OpenAI has expanded its services beyond the flagship chatbot. The company launched a lower-priced $8 ChatGPT subscription tier and introduced advertising as part of its monetisation strategy, according to the report. It reportedly expects the cheaper subscription plan to help increase revenue.
For companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX, access to public markets could provide billions of dollars in fresh capital. This capital is essential to sustain the enormous compute costs and continue developing advanced AI models.
Broader Market Implications
Investors recently sold off technology stocks amid concerns that valuations across the sector may have risen too sharply. The upcoming IPOs of OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX will test whether the market still has appetite for high-growth, high-cost AI companies. Everyday investors will soon have the opportunity to buy into companies at the forefront of AI, potentially reshaping the investment landscape for enterprise technology.
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