OpenAI's Revenue Hits $50 Billion: Company Seeks $30 Billion in Funding

OpenAI reached $50 billion in annualized revenue as of the end of September. Two weeks ago, media outlets reported a figure of $70 billion, but that was a calculated metric reflecting the way OpenAI and Anthropic record partner sales. OpenAI counts only its own share as revenue for certain partnership deals, whereas Anthropic calculates the full amount of the customer's payment, booking the provider's commission as an expense instead. Both methods comply with US GAAP standards and depend on who manages the customer relationship and bears responsibility for delivering the product.

The company is seeking $30 billion in fresh capital at a target pre-money valuation of $1.4 trillion, while expecting to reach $70 billion in annualized revenue by the end of 2026. In March of this year, OpenAI raised $122 billion at a post-money valuation of $852 billion. The financial disclosure triggered volatility in the market: chip stocks fell several percentage points, reflecting investors' sensitivity to the trajectory of the two largest American AI companies.

The Enterprise Segment as a Growth Engine

The main driver of expansion is the growing enterprise business. In the third quarter, total annualized revenue grew 77%, while enterprise revenue posted an even more impressive result — 107%. This segment includes ChatGPT Work, integrated enterprise solutions, and specialized tools for corporate customers.

OpenAI is pursuing an aggressive pricing strategy to compete with Claude (Anthropic) and Chinese models. Codex, its coding assistant, is growing rapidly on the wave of popularity surrounding the GPT-6 model family.

User Base and Market Share

At its DevDay conference, OpenAI shared current usage metrics:

• ChatGPT: 1.2 billion weekly users • ChatGPT Work and Codex: 35+ million weekly users • Enterprise customers: 2.5 million companies use OpenAI's products

These figures demonstrate massive adoption across both the consumer and enterprise segments. For comparison, Anthropic reported $65 billion in annualized revenue as of July and is preparing for an IPO, possibly as early as November.

The Question of Long-Term Competitiveness

The central tension raised by the financial disclosure is whether these companies can grow revenue fast enough to match the colossal costs of building and maintaining computing infrastructure. OpenAI pushed its own public offering back to next year, citing security concerns, though that decision was reportedly planned well before the recent cybersecurity incidents. The answer to the fundamental question of profitability will likely hinge on whether these companies can demonstrate measurable, scalable productivity gains and newly generated value for customers.