OpenAI has confidentially filed for an initial public offering, giving the ChatGPT maker the option to go public while keeping its timing and financial details private for now. The filing comes shortly after Anthropic also submitted confidential IPO paperwork, adding pressure to the competition between two of the most closely watched AI companies.
OpenAI said in its official filing announcement that it recently submitted a confidential S-1 to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said it has not decided when to go public and that it may remain private for a while because some work may be easier outside the public markets.
OpenAI Keeps IPO Timing Open
The company said the confidential filing gives it the option to go public sooner if that becomes the right path. It did not share stock pricing, fundraising targets, or a proposed listing timeline.
OpenAI was last valued at $852 billion post-money, according to the source article. Reuters reported that the company could seek a valuation as high as $1 trillion in a future listing.
The filing follows Anthropic’s own confidential IPO move. Anthropic recently filed after raising a $65 billion funding round, and secondary market data cited in the source article showed its private-market valuation rising faster than OpenAI’s this year.
AI Companies Face Heavy Spending
OpenAI’s IPO preparation comes as the company continues to spend heavily on computing power and data centers. The Wall Street Journal reported, according to the source article, that OpenAI missed some internal targets for new users and revenue.
OpenAI secured $122 billion in funding in late March, including $3 billion from retail investors through bank channels. The company expects to spend roughly the same amount on AI research computing in 2028 and projects an $85 billion cash burn that year, even after doubling sales from the year before.
The company has also built large consumer scale since launching ChatGPT in 2022. It now has around 900 million weekly active users and has expanded into enterprise and government products.
Governance And Legal Issues Remain In Focus
OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit research lab before later adopting a structure that allowed commercial growth. Its 2022 launch of ChatGPT pushed large language models into wider public use.
The company has faced governance scrutiny since 2023, when its board briefly removed CEO Sam Altman before reinstating him. Several board members involved in that decision, including co-founder Ilya Sutskever, later left the company.
OpenAI has also faced lawsuits and political scrutiny. Last month, OpenAI won a case brought by Elon Musk over claims linked to the company’s nonprofit roots, while the company has tried to distance itself from political donations made by president Greg Brockman and his wife.
According to TechCrunch, analysts are watching how Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX may compete for public-market capital if their listings happen close together.
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