OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has confidentially filed for an initial public offering (IPO), setting the stage for one of the most closely watched technology listings in recent history and intensifying competition with rival artificial intelligence company Anthropic.
The company disclosed the filing in a blog post on Monday, June 8, just over a week after Anthropic also submitted paperwork for a public listing in the United States, signalling that the two leading AI firms are preparing to compete not only for customers and talent, but also for public market investors.
OpenAI said the filing was intended to give the company flexibility as it weighs the advantages and challenges of becoming a publicly traded company. While the move opens the door to a stock market debut, the company stressed that it has not yet made a final decision on when an IPO will take place.
However, the company indicated that an IPO is not imminent and that it has yet to decide when it will proceed with a public listing.
“We have not decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company. But it’s a complicated set of tradeoffs and this gives us the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best,” the company said.
The firm, which was last valued at $852 billion, submitted a draft registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission but did not disclose the number of shares it plans to offer or the valuation it intends to seek.
The filing comes as investors increasingly scrutinise whether the companies at the centre of the AI boom can convert rapid growth and lofty valuations into sustainable profits.
Why the IPO matters
OpenAI’s move is expected to have significant implications for the wider artificial intelligence industry, particularly as companies race to secure the enormous capital required to train increasingly powerful AI models.
Recall that OpenAI recently raised $122 billion in fresh funding, one of the largest fundraising rounds in Silicon Valley history. Yet the company is expected to continue spending aggressively on computing infrastructure and AI research over the coming years.
Reports indicate OpenAI could burn as much as $85 billion annually by 2028 and does not expect to generate positive cash flow until 2030.
The timing of the IPO is therefore notable.
Industry analysts have argued that the first major AI company to successfully reach public markets could attract a disproportionate share of investor capital at a time when funding is becoming increasingly concentrated among a handful of firms.
The race to prove AI can make money
Despite attracting hundreds of billions of dollars in investment, many leading AI companies remain unprofitable.
OpenAI’s filing comes as investors demand clearer evidence that AI companies can build sustainable businesses rather than simply raising ever-larger funding rounds.
Anthropic, which is valued at nearly $1 trillion, has reportedly told investors it is approaching profitability and could reach profitability this second quarter.
OpenAI, meanwhile, has projected that profitability may not arrive until later in the decade.
This pressure to improve financial performance is influencing strategic decisions across the industry.
Just a day before news of the IPO filing emerged, TechMedia Africa reported that OpenAI is preparing the biggest overhaul of ChatGPT since its launch in 2022.
The company is reportedly repositioning the platform away from its traditional role as a chatbot and toward a ‘super app’ built around AI agents and coding tools.
The shift reflects a growing belief within OpenAI that the next wave of AI growth will come not from answering questions but from completing tasks.
Products such as Codex, OpenAI’s coding assistant, have become increasingly important to that strategy. According to the Financial Times, Codex has increased its user base sixfold to more than five million weekly active users since the launch of its desktop application in February.
The majority of those users reportedly pay for the service, making it a more lucrative product than the free version of ChatGPT.
Regardless, the IPO will test whether public markets believe OpenAI can transform its enormous user base, cutting-edge AI technology and ambitious AI-agent strategy into a profitable business capable of justifying its extraordinary valuation.