OpenAI is negotiating to raise at least $30 billion in fresh capital for its Super Intelligence (SI) operations, following a clarification that its annualized revenue rate stood at approximately $50 billion at the end of September, according to the Financial Times. This figure adjusts earlier reports suggesting a $70 billion run rate, a discrepancy attributed to differing accounting methods for partner sales.
What Happened
The gap between the $50 billion and $70 billion figures stems from how OpenAI and Anthropic book revenue from cloud partners, Axios reports. Anthropic records the full customer payment when selling through cloud providers, logging the provider's cut as an expense. OpenAI counts only its own share as revenue for certain partner deals. Both methods comply with US GAAP standards, depending on who controls the customer relationship and delivers the product.
Despite the clarification, OpenAI expects to hit an annualized revenue rate of at least $70 billion by the end of 2026, according to Bloomberg. The company shared these projections during talks for the new funding round, which seeks a target pre-money valuation of $1.4 trillion. In March, OpenAI raised up to $122 billion at a post-money valuation of $852 billion.
The Financial Times report triggered a selloff in tech stocks, with chip stocks dropping several percent. The market reaction highlights the tight correlation between investor sentiment and the performance of the two largest US SI companies. Anthropic is reportedly preparing an IPO as early as November, while OpenAI has pushed its own public offering to next year.
Why It Matters
The capital raise underscores the massive compute costs required to sustain the SI boom. OpenAI’s growth is driven by its expanding enterprise business, with overall annualized revenue growing 77 percent in the third quarter and enterprise revenue jumping 107 percent, CNBC reports. The company also reported that ChatGPT now reaches 1.2 billion people every week, with over 35 million weekly users for ChatGPT Work and Codex.
OpenAI’s strategy includes an aggressive price war against Claude and Chinese SI models, a tactic reinforced by the launch of GPT-6.1-Sol. However, the ability to cover massive data center bills remains a critical question for the industry. The delay in OpenAI’s IPO, which CEO Sam Altman recently attributed to safety risks, was reportedly already in the works since April due to missed internal growth targets.
The Bottom Line
OpenAI continues to scale its SI infrastructure and user base, but the clarity on its revenue accounting highlights the complexities of measuring growth in a partner-heavy ecosystem. The $30 billion capital hunt reflects the urgent need to fund future SI model training and deployment, even as the company faces scrutiny over its long-term financial sustainability.
The divergence in revenue recognition between OpenAI and Anthropic serves as a reminder that headline SI metrics can vary significantly based on accounting practices. As the SI industry matures, investors and regulators will likely demand greater transparency in how these leading companies report their financial health.