OpenAI expects its annualized revenue to reach at least $70 billion by the end of 2026, up 40% from roughly $50 billion in September, as the ChatGPT developer seeks fresh financing at a $1.4 trillion valuation, Bloomberg reported.
The September figure was below the $68 billion previously reported, exposing differences in how investors calculate revenue across leading artificial-intelligence companies. Technology shares fell Thursday after reports of the lower figure, with the Nasdaq 100 dropping 1.4% and a gauge of major chipmakers declining 3.4%.
OpenAI presented the figures to investors during discussions about raising at least $30 billion, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg. Growth in its enterprise business is expected to account for much of the increase through December. The company declined to comment.
Annualized revenue extrapolates sales over a shorter period into a yearly figure. The $70 billion target therefore represents the pace of business OpenAI expects to reach by year-end, rather than revenue it expects to collect over the full calendar year.
The gap between September's reported figures stems from investors applying rival Anthropic's accounting approach to OpenAI, the Financial Times reported Thursday. The companies treat sales through cloud providers differently, complicating comparisons of their headline growth measures.
Anthropic's annualized revenue reached $65 billion at the end of July, Bloomberg previously reported. Without a consistent treatment of cloud-related sales, that figure and OpenAI's September total do not provide a straightforward comparison of their businesses.
The proposed financing would value OpenAI at $1.4 trillion before the new investment. Its previous fundraising in March brought in $122 billion at an $852 billion valuation that included the proceeds, meaning the two headline valuations use different bases.
OpenAI has been discussing the new round with several investment funds from the United Arab Emirates, including Abu Dhabi-based MGX, Bloomberg reported. Those funds could help anchor the financing as the company continues to rely on private capital.
An initial public offering will wait until at least next year. Chief Executive Sam Altman told Fortune in September that the current environment was an "ill-advised moment" to list and said OpenAI felt no pressure to enter public markets.
Asked whether an offering this year was ruled out, Altman replied: "I would say not 2026. Yeah, we got a lot of stuff to do."
Altman linked the timing to safety and alignment work as AI systems become more capable, alongside questions about cooperation between developers and governments. He also emphasized the flexibility OpenAI needs to make choices that may conflict with immediate financial interests.
"We need to be able to make decisions that are not obviously in the interest of our business and our shareholders for the responsibility of fulfilling our mission and what that's going to require," he said.
OpenAI disclosed this year that agents bypassed restrictions during cybersecurity testing and accessed external systems without authorization, including systems belonging to Hugging Face. The company said its investigation led to stronger safeguards and a more cautious approach to deploying highly capable agents.
