OpenAI is an artificial intelligence company best known for creating ChatGPT, the AI chatbot that launched in November 2022 and became the fastest-growing consumer application in history5. Founded in 2015 as a non-profit research lab, it completed its restructuring into a for-profit public benefit corporation in October 20256 and is now one of the world's most valuable private companies.7,8
OpenAI’s core products and services:
ChatGPT – an AI assistant used by more than 900 million people weekly for writing, research, coding and conversation9
GPT API and enterprise platform – allows businesses to build AI-powered tools on top of OpenAI’s models. More than one million companies use this platform9
DALL·E – an AI image-generation tool that creates visuals from text prompts
Codex and coding tools – AI-powered code generation and debugging for software developers
Sora – a video-generation model that creates short clips from text descriptions
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OpenAI sells access to its AI models through subscriptions, business licences and strategic partnerships. Unlike traditional software companies, its costs are dominated by the computing power required to train and run its models.
OpenAI’s revenue comes from several key streams.
ChatGPT subscriptions
API and enterprise licensing
Microsoft partnership and revenue share
Advertising (launched Feburary 2026)10
Strategic licensing deals
ChatGPT subscriptions – individual users pay :
$8 per month for ChatGPT Go
$20 per month for ChatGPT Plus
$200 per month for ChatGPT Pro11
which offer faster responses, advanced features and priority access. Subscription revenue from ChatGPT’s hundreds of millions of users is OpenAI’s largest income source.
API and enterprise licensing – businesses pay usage-based fees to access OpenAI’s models through its API. More than one million companies use these tools to power their own products and services.
Microsoft partnership and revenue share – Microsoft has invested around $13.8bn in OpenAI and holds a stake of roughly 27%6. It integrates OpenAI’s models into products such as Copilot and Azure AI. Revenue share payments continue to 2030 but were made subject to a total cap under a revised agreement in April 2026, and Microsoft no longer pays a revenue share to OpenAI.12
Advertising – OpenAI announced advertising in January 202613 and began showing ads to US users on the free and Go tiers in February 2026. The rollout reached the UK in August 2026.10 This is an early-stage revenue stream, but one with significant growth potential given ChatGPT’s user base.
Strategic licensing deals – OpenAI earns revenue from large one-off licensing agreements with enterprise clients and governments, including partnerships tied to the $500bn Stargate AI infrastructure project with SoftBank and Oracle.14
OpenAI’s annualised revenue run rate topped $40bn in August 2026, roughly double its rate at the close of 2025 and up from about $6bn in 2024.15
OpenAI has not confirmed an official IPO launch date. It filed a confidential draft registration statement with the SEC in June 20261, and in August 2026 chief financial officer Sarah Friar told employees the company would be public in 2027, or sooner if growth accelerates.4
OpenAI has worked with Wall Street banks and hired senior finance executives to oversee investor relations. Rival Anthropic filed a week earlier and is targeting a listing in late September or early October 2026.7,16 Friar told staff that OpenAI was comfortable listing second.4
There are reasons the timeline could still move. Advisers reportedly urged a delay after SpaceX listed in June 2026 and its shares later fell below the IPO price.1,8 Reporting in June 2026 also pointed to a gap between the $1tn valuation the company is said to want and what public markets may currently pay.1
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What happens if the IPO is cancelled
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There is significant speculation around the OpenAI share price and what the company’s market cap could be at IPO. In October 2025, an employee share sale valued OpenAI at $500bn. In March 2026, OpenAI closed a $122bn funding round at an $852bn post-money valuation2, and reaffirmed that figure with a $7bn employee share sale in August 2026.3 Some reports suggest the IPO itself could target $1tn or more.
For context, Meta was valued at $104bn when it went public in 2012, and Uber at $82bn in 2019.17 A more recent comparison is SpaceX, which listed in June 2026 at about $1.77tn.8 If OpenAI lists near $1tn, it would be among the largest IPOs in history. Sceptics point out that OpenAI’s price-to-sales ratio at $852bn is roughly 21 times its current annualised revenue – far higher than most technology companies.2,15
Note: these estimates are speculative and based on private market transactions and media reports. Valuations can change significantly before and after an IPO and do not indicate future share price performance.
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results
OpenAI’s revenue growth has been rapid. The company went from roughly $2bn in annualised revenue at the end of 2023 to $6bn in 2024, about $25bn in February 2026 and more than $40bn by August 2026.15 That growth has been driven by paid ChatGPT subscriptions, rapid enterprise adoption and expanding API usage.
However, OpenAI remains heavily loss-making. Internal projections point to losses of $14bn in 2026 alone. HSBC estimated in November 2025 that the company would not reach profitability by 2030 and could need more than $207bn in additional funding, even accounting for projected revenue growth18 – although that estimate pre-dates the $122bn OpenAI raised in March 2026.2 For investors, the gap between revenue growth and the path to profitability is a key metric to watch.
OpenAI has experienced significant recent growth: ChatGPT reached 900 million weekly active users by February 20269, faster than any consumer application in history, and its annualised revenue roughly doubled in the year to August 2026.15 The global AI market is projected to exceed $1tn in the coming years, and OpenAI sits at the centre of that expansion.
Brand recognition gives OpenAI a significant edge, albeit competitive pressures remain. ChatGPT has become a household name – synonymous with generative AI in the same way Google became synonymous with search. This level of consumer awareness is difficult for competitors to replicate, and it gives OpenAI a strong foundation for expanding into new products and markets.
Strategic partnerships strengthen its position further. Microsoft has invested around $13.8bn and integrates OpenAI’s models across its product suite.6 The $500bn Stargate Project, a joint AI infrastructure venture with SoftBank and Oracle, signals the scale of ambition.14 For investors, the question is whether this first-mover advantage can translate into lasting market dominance and, eventually, profits.
The AI regulatory landscape is changing rapidly. The EU AI Act imposes new obligations on foundation-model providers19, the UK’s AI Security Institute is expanding its oversight role20, and US executive orders continue to shape the sector. A jury found in OpenAI’s favour in May 2026 in the case brought by co-founder Elon Musk, who had sought up to $134bn in damages; Musk has said he will appeal.21,22 Separate litigation over alleged harms caused by its chatbot continues. Any of these issues could affect the company’s operations and share price.
Profitability pressure is intense. OpenAI has committed to over $1.4tn in data-centre and infrastructure spending over the coming years.23 Internal projections point to losses of $14bn in 2026 alone, and HSBC estimated in November 2025 that profitability would not arrive by 2030 and that a $207bn funding gap remained.18 That means the company may need to raise additional capital even after an IPO. SpaceX, which listed in June 2026, fell to an all-time low in August 2026 and spent much of the summer below its IPO price – a reminder that high-profile tech IPOs do not always deliver for early investors.8
Competition is fierce and accelerating. Google’s Gemini grew its share of worldwide generative AI web traffic from 5.6% to 27.9% in the year to May 2026, according to Similarweb, while ChatGPT’s share fell from 76.5% to 53.9% and Anthropic’s Claude rose to 9.2%.24 Anthropic, Google and Meta are all investing heavily. OpenAI’s governance is also unusual for a listed company: the non-profit OpenAI Foundation retains control of the public benefit corporation, a structure public market investors typically scrutinise closely.6
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results
The generative AI sector is one of the most competitive in technology. OpenAI’s rivals include:
Anthropic (Claude) –the most direct competitor. Its annualised revenue run rate reached $65bn in July 202625 and it filed confidentially for an IPO in June 2026, a week ahead of OpenAI.7 Backed by Amazon and Google.
Google DeepMind (Gemini) – Google’s AI division has rapidly gained market share and benefits from Apple Intelligence integration.26 Parent company Alphabet [GOOGL] trades on the Nasdaq.
xAI (Grok), now part of SpaceX [SPCX] – Elon Musk’s AI
venture was absorbed by SpaceX in an all-stock merger in February 2026 and now sits inside a listed company.27 SpaceX began trading on the Nasdaq in June 2026.8
Meta AI (Llama) – Meta [META] offers open-source AI models, pressuring competitors on price and accessibility.
Microsoft (Copilot) – despite being OpenAI’s largest backer, Microsoft [MSFT] also competes directly through its own Copilot products built on OpenAI’s technology.
Some traders and investors choose to gain indirect exposure to the AI sector through publicly listed companies, such as Alphabet [GOOGL], Meta [META] and Microsoft [MSFT]. These companies have diverse business models and associated risks.
OpenAI’s key differentiator is its first-mover brand advantage with ChatGPT and the depth of its Microsoft partnership. However, Chinese AI firms such as DeepSeek are emerging as formidable rivals, offering comparable performance at a fraction of the cost. Readers with an interest in the AI sector should keep an eye on industry developments.
