The company confirmed on Monday that it had submitted a confidential draft registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), though it did not disclose the size of the proposed offering or provide a timeline for a market debut. According to reports, OpenAI could seek a valuation approaching $1 trillion if it proceeds with the listing.
In a statement announcing the filing, OpenAI said “We recently submitted a confidential S-1. We expect it to leak so we’re just announcing it.” The company added that it has not yet determined when it will go public, noting that “there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company.” From OpenAI statement cited by Reuters, CBS News and TechCrunch.
The filing comes just days after AI rival Anthropic also confidentially submitted IPO paperwork, intensifying competition between the industry’s largest players as they seek access to public market capital. Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s SpaceX is also preparing for a major stock market debut, creating what analysts describe as one of the most important tests of investor appetite for high-growth technology companies in recent years.
OpenAI’s rise has been fueled by the global success of ChatGPT, which the company previously said serves more than 900 million weekly users and over 50 million paying subscribers. The firm has also attracted massive investment from major backers including SoftBank, Amazon and Nvidia, helping drive its valuation into the hundreds of billions of dollars.
Industry observers say the potential IPO could provide OpenAI with additional resources to fund the enormous computing infrastructure required to develop increasingly advanced AI systems. However, the company has previously indicated it does not expect to reach profitability until the end of the decade.
OpenAI’s path to a public listing follows years of corporate restructuring. Founded in 2015 as a nonprofit research organization, the company later established a for-profit arm to support the growing costs of AI development. Its governance structure became the subject of intense scrutiny in 2023 following the brief removal and reinstatement of Chief Executive Sam Altman. More recently, legal challenges brought by co-founder Elon Musk created uncertainty around the company’s future plans before a U.S. jury ruled in OpenAI’s favor in May, removing a major obstacle to a potential IPO.
Analysts believe OpenAI’s filing marks another milestone in the rapid commercialization of artificial intelligence, an industry that has emerged as one of the most influential forces shaping global technology markets.
