The developers behind ChatGPT are aiming for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) near the close of 2026. OpenAI is feeling pressure due to the rivalry with both Anthropic and xAI. All three startups anticipate securing substantial funding rounds this year.
Photo: Ascannio / Shutterstock
Photo: Ascannio / Shutterstock
OpenAI is reportedly gearing up for a public stock offering in the fourth quarter of 2026, according to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The newspaper indicates that this timeline has been accelerated so the company can potentially precede its competitor, Anthropic, the creator of the AI agent Claude.
Sources have informed the WSJ that the ChatGPT creators are engaged in preliminary discussions with various banks regarding a potential IPO and are simultaneously augmenting their finance department staffing.
Anthropic and OpenAI stand as two foremost entities globally engaged in developing large language models and general-purpose artificial intelligence systems. Their technologies underpin sophisticated chatbots and assistants capable of tasks such as drafting content, coding, analyzing information, and conversing with remarkable human-like fluency. OpenAI achieved widespread fame following the launch of ChatGPT and its GPT-3/4 models, effectively setting the benchmark for the generative AI market. Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI personnel, is advancing its own collection of Claude models, establishing itself as a significant player with a distinct focus on AI safety and controllability.
Nevertheless, the OpenAI team faces competition not only from these former colleagues but also from Elon Musk’s venture, xAI, which, as Reuters has learned, is purportedly planning a merger with SpaceX ahead of its own public offering.
OpenAI informed its investors in the autumn of 2024 that it does not foresee achieving profitability until 2029, projecting cumulative losses reaching $44 billion before surpassing that point. The management team hopes to reverse this trend by developing AI-powered robots and personal devices, alongside managing a global infrastructure of data centers necessary for creating and deploying their AI models. Anthropic, conversely, has indicated to the WSJ that it anticipates reaching the break-even point by 2028.
It was previously reported that Amazon.com Inc. is in talks to inject $50 billion in funding into OpenAI to expand their existing arrangement for cloud computing resources. Furthermore, the team led by Sam Altman, the AI company’s founder, has sought financing not exclusively from Amazon, but has also approached Nvidia Corp. and SoftBank Group Corp.
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