OpenAI Announces Stock Market Debut

OpenAI has confidentially filed paperwork for an IPO, becoming the latest AI company to move towards a listing. The most prominent AI players have recently announced IPOs to raise fresh funds.

The ChatGPT-maker stated it had submitted a draft registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), adding that it had expected it to leak, so they decided to ”just announce it”. The AI player did not disclose the size, price or timing of the listing and cautioned a debut may not be imminent. “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,” it stated.

OpenAI added that the decision involves a complicated set of trade-offs, but that the filing gives it the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best. The company is reportedly targeting a valuation of up to $1 trillion, with a debut possible as early as September. The value would put it alongside AI rival Anthropic, which confidentially filed for its own US IPO last week. SpaceX, meanwhile, is expected to launch its IPO this week, at a reported $1.75 trillion valuation.

OpenAI’s filing follows a period of rapid growth. Last week, research company Sensor Tower estimated ChatGPT crossed 1 billion monthly active users on its app, becoming the fastest in history to reach the milestone. The company’s route to market was also complicated by its nonprofit origins and efforts to restructure. In May, a US jury ruled against Elon Musk in a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of departing from its founding mission, removing a key legal barrier for the ChatGPT-maker ahead of any listing.